John Kasich Should Have Been the GOP Nominee

1. More Favorable than Trump and Clinton There are many polls and studies that show that Kasich is more favorable than Donald Trump, the GOP nominee, and Clinton, his would-be opponent. a. In virtually all of the polls featured on Real Clear Politics projecting a Kasich vs Clinton general election, John Kasich is projected to have a considerable lead over her with an average of +7.4% [1]. At the time, he was the only Republican candidate projected to beat a Democratic candidate. My opponent may argue that, according to the same source, Donald Trump currently holds a small lead in general election polls [2]. My rebuttal to that statement is that this is the effect of Trump's 'convention boost', whereas Clinton has not yet finished her convention and thus has not received hers. b. From March 17-27, 2016, the Pew Research Center conducted a poll to determine views towards the 2016 candidates. Only 20% of those sampled said Kasich would make a poor or terrible president [3]. In that same poll, 60% said Trump would make a poor or terrible president and 46% said the same of Clinton [3]. c. A March 16 Bloomberg poll found that John Kasich had the highest net favorability than any of his primary opponents. His was +14, whereas Cruz's was -23 and Trump's was -39 [4]. Currently, according to Real Clear Politcs, Trump has a net favorability of -21.1 [5]. According to that same source, Clinton has a net favorability of -17.2 [6]. 2. Appeals to GOP (and moderates) After the 2012 election, the Republican party was advised: "We need to campaign among Hispanic, black, Asian, and gay Americans and demonstrate that we care about them, too." Kasich clearly understands this: in one of his speeches, he touched on how "people with more money or less money, people with different-sounding last names or different religious beliefs or different-colored skin or lifestyles." are often blamed for our country's problems [7]. He affirms that he does not support same-sex marriage, which appeals to social conservatives, but that he will not attempt to abolish or change it, which appeals to social progressives [6]. He promises (or promised, now that the race is over) comprehensive immigration reform, which appeals to the GOP establishment and moderates [7]. He supports deregulation, tax cuts, and block-granting food stamps, which appeals to fiscal conservatives [7]. Conclusion John Kasich has a higher net favorability than Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. His stances appeal to many groups, including but not limited to social conservatives, social progressives, fiscal conservatives, moderates, and the GOP establishment. Above all, in virtually every poll from source one, he was projected to defeat Hillary Clinton in a general election. It is for these reasons that I propose that Governor John Kasich should have been the Republican party presidential nominee. SOURCES [1] http://www.realclearpolitics.com... [2] http://www.realclearpolitics.com... [3] http://www.people-press.org... [4] http://assets.bwbx.io... [5] http://www.realclearpolitics.com... [6] http://www.realclearpolitics.com... [7] http://www.npr.org... *I ask my opponent and the voters to understand that all Real Clear Politics links, not including source one, are subject to change due to the fact that they are regularly updated.