Who is the "GOP base," and who on Earth is defining it? It seems even in the last 2 years alone, the term has come to describe literally opposite people. The "GOP base" - by all objective accounts - opposed Trump through all of the primary, or at least strongly favored Cruz ... yet now it is synonymous with his most loyal supporters, even if they're literally registered independents or even Democrats, LOL. The other strange thing about "the base" is that it seems you just simply can't be well off and a part of "the base." The lower-middle class construction worker who only shows up to vote if he likes the candidate and thinks Paul Ryan is a "RINO" for some inexplicable reason? GOP base, for sure. Hedge fund manager who donates to the GOP and is an active voter in all local party primaries and all of that? NEVER considered "part of the base." LOL, who is the base?
The base is the people that always or almost always vote Republican. Almost all of these people voted for Trump and still support him, because he has the R if nothing else. If someone voted Bush/Bush/McCain/Romney/Trump it doesn't matter if they're still registered as a Democrat or independent in name only. I could register as Constitution Party if I wanted, it makes no difference.
This wasn't a post about ancestral Democrats not changing their registration yet; it's about us lazily saying "Trump voters" = GOP base. If the GOP base is "the people that always or almost always vote Republican," then we are mischaracterizing them. Trump brought tons of new voters into the primary system, and a huge chunk of GOP primary voters did not support him. Are they supporting the Republican President now? Of course, just as they did Bush and would have Rubio or Cruz. The other point is that this idea that the "base" must have a sort of blue collar feel is incredibly off-base. The private practice doctor living in Williamson County, TN who held his nose and voted Trump and has never voted Democrat in his life is absolutely a part of "the GOP base," but he wouldn't be characterized that way because he's educated, affluent and probably doesn't show up to Charlottesville-type protests.
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