By MIKE MORRIS
THE PICKET – Shepherd University students have been watching the presidential primaries and are forming their opinions about the unorthodox campaigning on the Republican side.
The race to become the Republican Party’s nominee has proven especially controversial, and the primaries so far have whittled down the field to three candidates: businessman Donald Trump, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
“The GOP is against Trump and would rather lose with Cruz. As long as Trump doesn’t get his targeted amount of delegates, the nominee will be Cruz. Then the votes will be split for the Republicans between Cruz and Trump, who may run as an independent. This campaign has been the strangest I’ve been alive for, but I think the Democratic candidate will win,” said Nathan Borowski, a 19-year-old business major.
Others are optimistic that the race has narrowed itself down to a handful of candidates.
“This race has definitely been unorthodox and somewhat of a mess, but I’m glad it’s narrowed down to three candidates so we can start talking about real issues and begin striving to make America great again,” said Derrick Cowles, 21.
Not everyone is optimistic about the state of the race, however.
“I think that it says a lot about the party that candidates have backed out of the GOP agreement to support the nod,” political science major Lance Wines said, referring to Donald Trump’s recent announcement that he will not honor his previous commitment to support whoever the Republican nominee may be if he does not get the nomination.
Cruz currently leads in Wisconsin, which is to vote Tuesday, April 5. Poll averages from RealClearPolitics show him up 6.5 percentage points on Trump and 21.2 points up on Kasich. Cruz is polling at 40.2 percent, Trump at 33.7 percent, and Kasich at 19 percent. Nationally, RealClearPolitics has Trump leading with 40.4 percent, followed by Cruz with 32.8 percent, and Kasich at 20.6 percent.
Mudslinging, while always a part of politics, took a deeply personal turn recently, with Trump and Cruz the combatants. Trump recently took to Twitter threatening to “spill the beans” on Cruz’s wife Heidi after an independent political action committee released an ad implying Trump’s wife Melania would be an unfit first lady. CNN reports that the PAC, Make America Awesome, does not have any known connection to Cruz’s campaign, but Trump took to the offensive against the Texan anyway, tweeting: “Lyin’ Ted Cruz just used a picture of Melania from a G.Q. shoot in his ad. Be careful, Lyin’ Ted, or I will spill the beans on your wife!”
Cruz responded in kind, also on Twitter: “Pic of your wife not from us. Donald, if you try to attack Heidi, you’re more of a coward than I thought.”
“Donald should stick with attacking me, because Heidi is way out of Donald Trump’s league,” Cruz added in a press conference.