The Bulwark's Will Saletan sifted through some exit polling data from the Republican primary on Super Tuesday — and found just how much the GOP base is devoted to former President Donald Trump.
On the one hand, Saletan said that the exit polls "paint a bleak picture of a party gone mad," but also added that they "indicate how many Republicans might be willing to vote against Trump in the general election — and what might persuade some of those voters to cast their ballots for Biden."
On the bleak side, Saletan cites polls showing that a majority of GOP voters would elect Trump even if he were convicted of a felony, while a plurality said they'd vote for him even if he were serving time in prison on election day.
Other polls cited by Saletan show just 20 percent of GOP voters believe President Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 election, and a majority of GOP voters say that Trump being charged with crimes related to the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol makes them more likely to vote for him.
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"Many of these numbers are dismaying," he acknowledged. "They illustrate the extent to which the Republican Party, in Trump’s thrall, has lost its grip on reality, morals, and civic responsibility."
On the other hand, he said that there was a small but significant chunk of Republican voters who believed being convicted of trying to defraud the United States with a scheme to illegally stay in power was disqualifying for the presidency, and he argued that Biden's campaign should zero in on those voters.
"A significant chunk of Republicans — somewhere between 5 and 30 percent, depending on the question — is open to information and persuasion about Trump’s lies, his crimes, his corruption, and his attempts to seize power," he concluded.
"Our job is to remind them why they voted against Trump — and persuade them to do it again."
