What caused such a big Trump skill drop-off between the primary and GE?

[Lyin' Steve]

Call me crazy, but am I the only one who's noticed that Trump's skills seem to have decreased substantially since he won the nomination?  The guy who crushed Jeb, Marco, Ben and Ted wouldn't be having the problems he's having now or making these mistakes, and he'd be much more crafty and powerful with his attacks, characterizations, and publicity stunts.  Maybe he needs the debates to get his mojo back.

[Gass3268]

What he did in the primaries won't work for the general.

[136or142]

What he did in the primaries won't work for the general.

This.

Also, he didn't face a sustained attack like Hillary Clinton is giving him.  Hillary's team clearly realized how thin skinned Trump is and how easily he can be set up or goaded.

A couple late night talk show hosts also succeeded in setting him up.  I don't know why no Republican primary opponent of Trump's noticed this, but most of them aren't exactly all that bright.

[MK]

Will it doesn't hurt that the media is completely in the bag for Hillary.   There is no way anybody could look any better in these circumstances.

I will add however that trump as shot himself over and over these past 2 weeks.

[136or142]

Will it doesn't hurt that the media is completely in the bag for Hillary.   There is no way anybody could look any better in these circumstances.

Only the losers whine about the media.

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Jeb - Honestly Jeb defeated himself more than anything. Started his campaign by taking five different positions on Iraq in a short time period ("I would have invaded", "I misheard the question", "I misunderstood the question, "It would be offensive to answer the question", "Okay, fine, I wouldn't have gone in!!!!"). Then he played right in to Trump's low energy attack on the debate stage multiple times, by being, well, low energy, especially in the October 28th and November 10th debates. When he tried to act purposely high-energy on December 15th, it came off as whiny and just didn't work. Meanwhile, he and his superpac wasted the fall attacking Rubio and Kasich on the airwaves rather than training their fire on Trump. Add in other embarrassments like having all the same advisers as his father and brother despite being "His own Man", accidentally neglecting to redact personal information from old emails he released, the "please clap" incident in New Hampshire, and the bush last name as a whole, plus his general failure to distinguish himself in a large field, and you have a failed campaign.

Marco: Also defeated himself. The NH debate embarrassment, continually trying to sell defeats as wins, failing to muscle Kasich out of the race before ST, and then topping it all off with the small hands incident.

Ben: More bark than bite. The guy was too nice and unable to respond to the attacks Trump laid on him.

Ted: Mike Huckabee redux, albeit with more money. Simply didn't appeal to enough of the party; and he made it worse by promoting undemocratic wins in Colorado, North Dakota, and Wyoming.

[Mr. Morden]

There hasn't been any drop-off.  He's always been this bad at running a campaign:

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/06/today-in-trump-campaign-is-a-garbage-fire.html

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[SteveRogers]

Same skills, different game.

[136or142]

Jeb - Honestly Jeb defeated himself more than anything. Started his campaign by taking five different positions on Iraq in a short time period ("I would have invaded", "I misheard the question", "I misunderstood the question, "It would be offensive to answer the question", "Okay, fine, I wouldn't have gone in!!!!"). Then he played right in to Trump's low energy attack on the debate stage multiple times, by being, well, low energy, especially in the October 28th and November 10th debates. When he tried to act purposely high-energy on December 15th, it came off as whiny and just didn't work. Meanwhile, he and his superpac wasted the fall attacking Rubio and Kasich on the airwaves rather than training their fire on Trump. Add in other embarrassments like having all the same advisers as his father and brother despite being "His own Man", accidentally neglecting to redact personal information from old emails he released, the "please clap" incident in New Hampshire, and the bush last name as a whole, plus his general failure to distinguish himself in a large field, and you have a failed campaign.

Marco: Also defeated himself. The NH debate embarrassment, continually trying to sell defeats as wins, failing to muscle Kasich out of the race before ST, and then topping it all off with the small hands incident.

Ben: More bark than bite. The guy was too nice and unable to respond to the attacks Trump laid on him.

Ted: Mike Huckabee redux, albeit with more money. Simply didn't appeal to enough of the party; and he made it worse by promoting undemocratic wins in Colorado, North Dakota, and Wyoming.

Not to take this off topic and this has been mentioned before, but there were 16/18 Republicans running initially, and this was described as the 'largest and most talented field of Republicans running for the Presidency ever' by more than one pundit, and every one of them turned out to be a dud.

[Gustaf]

I think Trump's victory in the primary was a lot less about skill than people think. He got lucky in a bunch of ways and was addressing an electorate that was fine with racism, sexism, lying and general craziness. The general electorate is not as fine with those things.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Will it doesn't hurt that the media is completely in the bag for Hillary.   There is no way anybody could look any better in these circumstances.

Only the losers whine about the media.

I'm not a big fan about the "complain about the media" strategy, but the coverage biased in favor of Hillary is ridiculous.

[Mehmentum]

Will it doesn't hurt that the media is completely in the bag for Hillary.   There is no way anybody could look any better in these circumstances.

Only the losers whine about the media.

I'm not a big fan about the "complain about the media" strategy, but the coverage biased in favor of Hillary is ridiculous.

[Indy Texas]

Jeb - Honestly Jeb defeated himself more than anything. Started his campaign by taking five different positions on Iraq in a short time period ("I would have invaded", "I misheard the question", "I misunderstood the question, "It would be offensive to answer the question", "Okay, fine, I wouldn't have gone in!!!!"). Then he played right in to Trump's low energy attack on the debate stage multiple times, by being, well, low energy, especially in the October 28th and November 10th debates. When he tried to act purposely high-energy on December 15th, it came off as whiny and just didn't work. Meanwhile, he and his superpac wasted the fall attacking Rubio and Kasich on the airwaves rather than training their fire on Trump. Add in other embarrassments like having all the same advisers as his father and brother despite being "His own Man", accidentally neglecting to redact personal information from old emails he released, the "please clap" incident in New Hampshire, and the bush last name as a whole, plus his general failure to distinguish himself in a large field, and you have a failed campaign.

Marco: Also defeated himself. The NH debate embarrassment, continually trying to sell defeats as wins, failing to muscle Kasich out of the race before ST, and then topping it all off with the small hands incident.

Ben: More bark than bite. The guy was too nice and unable to respond to the attacks Trump laid on him.

Ted: Mike Huckabee redux, albeit with more money. Simply didn't appeal to enough of the party; and he made it worse by promoting undemocratic wins in Colorado, North Dakota, and Wyoming.

Jeb had no way of winning unless he changed his name and pretended he'd never even met the Georges. You can't run as a member of a political dynasty in a party that is in as anti-institutional of a mood as the Republicans. He also didn't really seem to want to run and was irritated and upset that buying off every consultant and bullying every donor didn't result in everyone else putting a crown on his head.

Marco, like Jeb, was lazy and entitled. Maybe it's a Florida thing. He thought he could just put a bunch of ads on the air and go on news shows and the folks in Iowa and New Hampshire and South Carolina would be like, "He's young, he's handsome, he's Hispanic!" This recent re-entry into the Senate race after he spent months saying he didn't want to stay in the Senate and then trying to claim the Orlando shooting is what made him get back in the race just cements how self-serving he is.

Ben Carson was on a book tour. Let's stop pretending that was anything else. One of the structural problems the GOP has is the commercialization of conservatism and how it leads to a lot of people running for president who don't want to be president but just want to audition for Fox News or pitch a ghostwritten book. The Democrats' backbench candidates - Lincoln Chafee, Jim Webb - don't go to cable news or go on talk radio when they lose, they go home. That's the way the Republicans should be doing things.

Ted Cruz was not Mike Huckabee. Maybe he thought he was Mike Huckabee but he was basically Steve Forbes if Steve Forbes had a born-again experience and started wearing a dollar store Ronald Reagan mask day in and day out. Whatever the merits of his platform are, he's a terrible messenger.

[LLR]

He has a legitimate opponent now.

[PeteB]

There is no dropoff - he is the same candidate but the circumstances have changed. I hate to quote my own prediction (actually whom am I kidding - I love it ) from May 3rd, but here goes:

"...Trump can certainly try to attack Clinton, like he has his GOP opponents.  However, his challenge with Hillary will be totally different from his primary campaign.  His primitive attacks (and he knows no other way) on her will only further alienate people that do not support him (and he currently only has the firm support of 25-30% of the electorate), and the Democratic machine will hit him hard with mega-millions spent on advertising, highlighting every conceivable position he has ever had, on a multitude of issues, from abortion to women's rights.  The media will also start repeatedly asking him serious questions, to which he has no idea how to respond, and has sadly already shown a laziness to learn.  He will perform one gaffe after another, none of which will get the usual pass he receives now.  He has demonstrated that he is thin skinned and that he cannot overcome knee-jerk reactions; it will be easy for the Clinton operation to lay traps, making him commit one unforced error after another.   He will spend inordinate amounts of time clarifying positions and tying himself further into knots. Not only will he not win new converts, but he will increase his unfavorability ratings even more.  Most Republican officeholders and donors will distance themselves from him, although at that point they would be tainted too.  His party support will be minimal, and he will be forced to augment his election coffers with his own money, something that he has already demonstrated he does not want to do...."

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=235913.0

[skoods]

I laughed when people (Trump supporters) continued to say he can overcome obstacles because he won the primary despite his gaffes. The GOP primary electorate is no Algonquin roundtable, especially after Obama's eight years. Trump was basically just the figurehead of all the racist, sexist, anti-Muslim rhetoric that the GOP has been spewing since 2008. This was their chance to finally get their guy after "moderates" like McCain and Romney (and even Bush).

[Sir Mohamed]

You should ask the question in reverse. The point is, that the Trumpster has not changed, because he doesn’t get it, that running a general election campaign is a complete different story than a GOP primary race.

[Wisconsin+17]

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Trump actually set a record low for a percentage of the party voting for him. If we're talking democracy, Trump might want to talk to the 60 percent of republicans who rejected him outright.

[Hermit For Peace]

Will it doesn't hurt that the media is completely in the bag for Hillary.   There is no way anybody could look any better in these circumstances.

I will add however that trump as shot himself over and over these past 2 weeks.

Where do you get that the media is completely in the bag for Hillary? That's quite a stretch there.

[Hermit For Peace]

Will it doesn't hurt that the media is completely in the bag for Hillary.   There is no way anybody could look any better in these circumstances.

Only the losers whine about the media.

I'm not a big fan about the "complain about the media" strategy, but the coverage biased in favor of Hillary is ridiculous.

What media are you referring to? Biased in favor of Hillary? That's laughable.

[136or142]

There is no dropoff - he is the same candidate but the circumstances have changed. I hate to quote my own prediction (actually whom am I kidding - I love it ) from May 3rd, but here goes:

"...Trump can certainly try to attack Clinton, like he has his GOP opponents.  However, his challenge with Hillary will be totally different from his primary campaign.  His primitive attacks (and he knows no other way) on her will only further alienate people that do not support him (and he currently only has the firm support of 25-30% of the electorate), and the Democratic machine will hit him hard with mega-millions spent on advertising, highlighting every conceivable position he has ever had, on a multitude of issues, from abortion to women's rights.  The media will also start repeatedly asking him serious questions, to which he has no idea how to respond, and has sadly already shown a laziness to learn.  He will perform one gaffe after another, none of which will get the usual pass he receives now.  He has demonstrated that he is thin skinned and that he cannot overcome knee-jerk reactions; it will be easy for the Clinton operation to lay traps, making him commit one unforced error after another.   He will spend inordinate amounts of time clarifying positions and tying himself further into knots. Not only will he not win new converts, but he will increase his unfavorability ratings even more.  Most Republican officeholders and donors will distance themselves from him, although at that point they would be tainted too.  His party support will be minimal, and he will be forced to augment his election coffers with his own money, something that he has already demonstrated he does not want to do...."

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=235913.0

It's still early, but at this point, I'd like to borrow your crystal ball.  So far, you're more prescient than not only all the 'best psychics' but also all of the pundits that I've read.

[MK]

Will it doesn't hurt that the media is completely in the bag for Hillary.   There is no way anybody could look any better in these circumstances.

Only the losers whine about the media.

I'm not a big fan about the "complain about the media" strategy, but the coverage biased in favor of Hillary is ridiculous.

What media are you referring to? Biased in favor of Hillary? That's laughable.

The NYT , Washington post along with communist news network  (cnn) and that sideshow msnbc are completely in the tank for Hillary Clinton you and others need to be honest. Wacth any of them and  you clearly see negative reporting on trump around the clock.  Don't get me wrong trump plays into their hands but still it's not honest reporting.

The bias polling is also obvious.     Give me a break, you got a justice department that edits audio so their narrative isnt challenged .  The msm completely brushes it off,  or how about the Clintion initiative university which is basically international trump like university.   It got completely ignored.

[LLR]

If the media is biased against Trump, it's because facts are too. And they are.

[IceSpear]

Will it doesn't hurt that the media is completely in the bag for Hillary.   There is no way anybody could look any better in these circumstances.

Only the losers whine about the media.

I'm not a big fan about the "complain about the media" strategy, but the coverage biased in favor of Hillary is ridiculous.

What media are you referring to? Biased in favor of Hillary? That's laughable.

The NYT , Washington post along with communist news network  (cnn) and that sideshow msnbc are completely in the tank for Hillary Clinton you and others need to be honest. Wacth any of them and  you clearly see negative reporting on trump around the clock.  Don't get me wrong trump plays into their hands but still it's not honest reporting.

The bias polling is also obvious.     Give me a break, you got a justice department that edits audio so their narrative isnt challenged .  The msm completely brushes it off,  or how about the Clintion initiative university which is basically international trump like university.   It got completely ignored.

Sorry, your feelings don't trump facts. Hillary gets the most negative media coverage.

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=239392.0

However, you do have a slight point here. Both of those studies were from 2015. The media liked playing along with the clownshow and loved the ratings Trump gave them over the past year. But after he clinched the nomination, they were horrified that they could actually be responsible for delivering him the presidency on a silver platter by endlessly promoting him and attacking Hillary. So since May or so, the media has mostly played nice with Hillary and attacked Trump viciously. Hopefully it's not too late for their flip flop. Just look at the IG report. That would've been a 6 month long story in 2015 ("dead broke", about as irrelevant a story as possible, lasted months) but it was brushed off in a week this time. Similarly, Trump's judge comments would've been forgotten about within a week in 2015. It's very clear the media calculus has changed recently. They don't want to be responsible for a President Trump.

So yeah, that's a huge factor. It's also the fact that the Republican primary electorate =/= the general electorate. The latter has minorities, and whites who aren't angry and resentful.