Cruz
Jindal
Perry (would've gone here)
Santorum
Walker (would've gone here)
Huckabee
Carson
Fiorina
Bush
Gilmore (
)
Christie
Rubio
Graham
Kasich
Pataki
Paul
TRUMP
- The Center -
Webb (would've gone here)
Chafee (woudl've gone here)
Biden (would've gone here)
Clinton
O'Malley
Sanders
Beyond a couple of figures like Trump and maybe Paul and Webb, I can't really see much difference in these candidates beyond tone and maybe some flowery language toward a core constituency group of the other party. Most of the Republicans were, at one time or another, severely conservative, and remain so in a general context but have just been passed on by the field. I'd say the most conservative two are obviously Bobby Jindal and Ted Cruz, who have the least baggage of saying things that violate conservative orthodoxy. Oddly enough, the average for the Republicans has moved to the left since Trumps entrance, and not just because he's obviously the candidate closest to the center, two of the Republicans most conservative candidates (Scott Walker and Rick Perry) were forced out of the race due to their poor performance under the spotlight of Trump.
The next little group is the hard socons. Santorum is a Bush Republican when it comes down to it, and holds most of those principles to be true. That's why I consider him the most right wing of this group. Carson, shockingly enough, is the least - partially because I take his statements on foreign policy, which lean a little toward the Paul camp more than the Graham camp, at face value. Huckabee has made moves to be on the Cruz camp more and more lately, but I find his previous record in Arkansas a bit too moderate to group him over there, as that would be a solid indicator of his governance.
Fiorina is truly a scary woman and I probably should've ranked her further on the conservative side, but as a CEO, I'm sure she doesn't really care about those social issues. She merely knows where her bread is buttered. Still, more conservative, I believe, than many here are giving her credit for - she literally said she would shoot Russian planes out of the sky.
There are few to no differences between fairly orthodox conservatives in Jim Gilmore, Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham, Jeb Bush, John Kasich, and George Pataki. Pataki is something of a throwback in a lot of ways, and his gay marriage issue is why he's at the front of that pack in terms of being close to the center, but he's economically very right wing. Jeb Bush is the most conservative of this group because that's the way he's run most of his career, and even now he's the only establishment candidate who was caught talking about Kim Davis in a favorable light. Marco Rubio ran for office as a Tea Partier and has largely voted that way. John Kasich is running for office on cutting spending in 2015 while proclaiming to be a Jon Huntsman level moderate (who wasn't even a moderate!). Lindsey Graham is a bloody war queen, he never met a foreign policy boondoggle he didn't fall in love with. Jim Gilmore ran the RNC so I have my assumptions about how conservative he is. And Chris Christie has all of the war loving that Lindsey Graham has with none of the gay rumors.
Paul doesn't follow conservative orthodoxy the most, though his monetary policy is so right wing it nearly breaks the bank. Still, despite his major hiccups, he is certainly the candidate closest to the center in terms of pure breaking of conservative issues line by line.
Or at least, he would be, if it weren't for the glorious Donald Trump. What kind of Republican frontrunner talks about how much he loves imminent domain, never quite denying that he loves single payer, talks about how much he hates Super PACs, and purposes raising taxes on hedge fund managers? The Donald, that's who! The Donald throws red meat to the base a lot - his hardline views on immigration, his love of guns, his love of the military, and his shouting at China (
) - but those that see the big picture see a man who has a lot of positions on both sides of the political spectrum. He's the closest to the center of any of the candidates running for President currently, and that includes Hillary Clinton.
