Kasich vs Trump

[jman123]

In the March Primaries in Ohio did Kasich take his state for granted or did he campaign in his own state to win it? How much of a challenge did Trump pose to Kasich in his own state?

[60+ GOP Seats After 2018 GUARANTEED]

Kasich campaigned almost exclusively in Ohio and he is super popular in Ohio. Trump barely led a few early polls but when the polls came right before the primary it was a dead heat.

[TJ in Oregon]

The big thing Kasich had going for him was that Ohio was the only state where he was the most prominent not-Trump candidate and the delegate allocation was winner-take-all. Thus he got a lot of borrowed votes from people who would have preferred Cruz or Rubio and would have voted for them if they lived elsewhere. Most of my extended family fits that description.

[Matty]

I'm frankly amazed he didn't win it by more tbh.

2 years before, he broke 60% in the gubernatorial election.

Historically, a candidate would have won 70%+ of his homestate with numbers like that.

[Heisenberg]

I'm frankly amazed he didn't win it by more tbh.

2 years before, he broke 60% in the gubernatorial election.

Historically, a candidate would have won 70%+ of his homestate with numbers like that.

A lot of the Kasich 2014/Trump (primary) people were in OH-06, OH-07, and OH-13 (the eastern, Rust Belt parts).

[darklordoftech]

The big thing Kasich had going for him was that Ohio was the only state where he was the most prominent not-Trump candidate and the delegate allocation was winner-take-all. Thus he got a lot of borrowed votes from people who would have preferred Cruz or Rubio and would have voted for them if they lived elsewhere. Most of my extended family fits that description.

Rubio even told his supporters to vote for Kasich in order to deny Trump Ohio's delegates.

[Kingpoleon]

The big thing Kasich had going for him was that Ohio was the only state where he was the most prominent not-Trump candidate and the delegate allocation was winner-take-all. Thus he got a lot of borrowed votes from people who would have preferred Cruz or Rubio and would have voted for them if they lived elsewhere. Most of my extended family fits that description.

Rubio even told his supporters to vote for Kasich in order to deny Trump Ohio's delegates.

Sure, but Kasich kind of broke that pact.

[60+ GOP Seats After 2018 GUARANTEED]

So I looked up the results again and Rubio barely got 2.5%!!!!

2.5%!!!!!

That's BEYOND embarrassing. How could anyone think he could win the nomination when he performed that badly among critical states?

[Pessimistic Antineutrino]

So I looked up the results again and Rubio barely got 2.5%!!!!

2.5%!!!!!

That's BEYOND embarrassing. How could anyone think he could win the nomination when he performed that badly among critical states?

Well as mentioned before he did tell his supporters in Ohio to go for Kasich in order to deny Trump the delegates.
By March 15, IMO, Rubio was a dead man walking. Florida was his last shot and he missed it by a mile.

[TheSaint250]

So I looked up the results again and Rubio barely got 2.5%!!!!

2.5%!!!!!

That's BEYOND embarrassing. How could anyone think he could win the nomination when he performed that badly among critical states?

As the above poster said it was because they wanted a contested convention and he knew he could afford to lose the others. Winning Florida would keep him in

[Fuzzy Bear]

Kasich was a terrible candidate; he was out of step with the tenor of the time.  On paper, he was the strongest GOP candidate, but he couldn't get the average rank and file Republican primary voter to see that, so how strong was he, really?