This is a hypothetical to see how possible predictions by people of how Trump would be as president runs against the reality of how things have happened. I didn't include Rubio since he was very far behind Trump and Cruz. I also think it's less interesting since he wasn't a candidate that deviated nearly as far as Cruz and Trump. I apologize if it seems like I'm spamming the D+D with polls. I think it's nice to be able to quantify the conclusions that posters are expressing in posts across many threads. However, the result of a poll clearly doesn't suggest there is a national correlation in terms of views. I include the options to identify people as republicans and democrats so we can separate the weighed difference in the number of liberal/moderate/conservative posters on the board which is probably weighted toward liberal given that (I'm Guessing) there are more posters that live in urban areas given that this is a Houston Rockets board. We do know that Harris County had a 54/41 split for Hilary and suburban ft bend county also went for Hilary. There is also a lot of numbers showing a huge urban/rural divide in the election and also newspaper endorsements. Let's assume that Ted Cruz would have won the presidency if he won the GOP nomination which (IMO) would have been a real possibility given the fact that Trump won. It's funny that we would have STILL had a huge dose of Kellyanne Conway since she was indirectly working for Cruz. Just a side bit. If you could choose now, would you rather have Cruz or Trump as president? I was scared of Cruz and always thought that Trump could become more moderate as President so I said a few times that I would rather have Trump. Now? While I still fear Cruz's view of the world and government, I don't feel like he has the ability to create the kind of public support for extreme policies that Trump does. I also don't think he's willing to be as dishonest even though 'Lying Ted" became a trending tag. I also don't think you would have such a massive divide between Americans (especially rural and urban.) However, Cruz might have been more successful at passing legislation (despite being disliked by the Senate) that I don't agree with. I also don't feel like he would have done the kind of damage to world politics that Trump has done. The dude can be a douche but I don't necessarily think he is petty enough to ignore requests to shake the hand of a fellow world leader. However, I think it's worth asking. I suppose you could still rather have Trump win because you think it might be more likely to lead to democrats overcoming midterm elections which are typically very difficult for democrats. I still don't think Democrats can win the Senate since there are so few GOP seats up (9) and they are almost all in red states. I think it's possible you could see different anti-trump republicans win primaries and then win the senate seat over a challenging democrat. Then you have 23 seats democrats up who could still lose if their republican opponents are anti-trump and run under a campaign saying that congress is also the problem. I don't believe they can win the house because of massive gerrymandering. In 2016, Republicans had 1.1% more votes than Democrats in the House races but Republicans captured %10.8 more seats than Democrats. It's been speculated that Democrats could have to win up to %56 of the total vote to take the house which hasn't happened since 1976 after the Nixon resignation. Still, it's probably more likely to happen with Trump than it would have with Cruz. You can at least say that Trump would be more sussesful at getting democrats off their ass and vote in a midterm election. I could see supporting Trump because you would rather have Mike Pence since it's possible that Trump's campaign crimes (If they are found to be true) could lead to his resignation which would make Pence president. I would easily choose Pence even though I adamantly disagree with his policies. He at least isn't a danger to the function of government. I've also been very impressed with his poise and level of diplomacy shown on his twitter. I mean, take that for what it's worth. I still don't like his policies.
I would have preferred pretty much any of the Republican candidates to Trump with the lone exception being Christie. Of the rest of them, I most agree with Rand Paul, but if we're talking to those who were in it late I'd have gone for Rubio, then Kasich, then Cruz all before even considering Trump. I think if it wasn't for such a large GOP field at the start, Trump would have been one of the first out of the race. That was really the key to his victory. Make it a one on one race between Trump and just about anyone and Trump loses.
Agreed I would expand it to everyone but Christie and Carson. As a careers professional, a pet peeve is seeing people get jobs they are not qualified for.
Cruz is probably the one guy I wouldn't swap out Trump for. In general, I say it's not good to have people with personality disorders as president. Trump's might be more severe, but both of these guys have them. Aside from that issue, I fear a Cruz presidency more because I think he would pursue some of the same things Trump is now pursuing (deconstructing the state, jingoistic policies in immigration and security, abolition of the safety net, wholesale rejection of environmental stewardship - to name a few) but he wouldn't be so bad at it. He wouldn't have had 2 executive orders on immigration blocked by courts. He wouldn't have been sitting around with his thumb in his butt waiting for Paul Ryan to hang himself with an Obamacare replacement bill (he would have throttled Ryan with his own hands!). He wouldn't be hamstringing himself every day with stupid things he says on twitter. The end result would be that he'd be much more effective in executing on the same stuff Trump is botching. In that regard, I much prefer Trump. Of course, to give credit where it's due, he probably also wouldn't make secret deals with geopolitical adversaries, so there's that. So, a bit of toss-up overall, but I'll take the devil I know for the simple reason that I don't think he's talented enough to really screw us up.
Like JV, I wouldn't want Mr. Cruz, either. Cruz is smarter than Trump, but Mr.Trump is craftier. They are both awful human beings, in my humble opinion, with gigantic egos.
Trump's incompentence, corruption, and general buffoonery will impede his destruction of the nation. Cruz would be successful.
Bush torpedoed Cruz for some reason with his little quote, so he wasn't going to win if nominated. From a generic risk aversion standpoint you wish people like Kasich now or Gephardt from '04 were a little more appealing electorally.
Very tough question. Cruz probably has a more dangerous mindset and greater knowledge of how the government actually works. That makes his presidency a more dangerous prospect. At the same time it's hard to say that anyone would be worse than Trump. I guess I'll wait and see what the investigations discover before making a judgment.
There has never been a presidential candidate with a legit chance of being nominated that made my flesh crawl like Ted Cruz (besides Hillary). He personifies unprincipled self-promotion to the nth degree. I shudder to think about him in the White House and just cannot answer the question.
Donald is a such a dumb ass...would just keep rather keep him. Cruz would actually be able to accomplish the things Donald can only tweet about. Is the Donald tired of winning yet?
I would take Trump over Cruz and I would take both of them over Christie. Kasich would have gotten my vote if he won the nomination unless Bernie would have beaten Hillary then I would have had a tough decision.