Trump without gaffes

[tonyreyes89]

Lets say from the RNC on Trump stays on message 100% of the time and none of the self inflected wounds happen (Khan, Mexican judge, Billy Bush tape) what would the state of the race be right now?
Everything else stays the same on Hillary's side, discuss with maps.

[LLR]

Not remotely possible, next.

[tonyreyes89]

Not remotely possible, next.

lol this is true but what if man?

[OSR stands with Israel]

Not remotely possible, next.

lol this is true but what if man?

Trump wins 296-242

[AGA]

Clinton was still leading before the Billy Bush tape. I would say that it would be something like this.

Clinton/Kaine: 279 EVs, 49% PV
Trump/Pence: 259 EVs, 47% PV

[Person Man]

I honestly don't think it would matter.

[bagelman]

337-201

[Maxwell]

Trump isn't Trump without gaffes.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

This may seem strange, but the Judge and the Billy Bush tapes aside, I think his gaffes helped humanize him in a way that Hillary could never dream of. People saw him make fun of Jeb Bush and they realized that they had thought the same thing. People saw him dox Lindsey Graham and laughed, probably followed a certain universal phrase call rhymes with "Go spit!"

Frankly, while I thought his Khan comments were indefensible and immoral, I also don't think the Khans are angels in the rather arrogant way that they conducted themselves. I think many agreed. Things like this served not to necessary strengthen him, but to certainly make him more immune to criticism. The overload of negative information about him burned itself out and it made him virtually unassailable. Clinton should have pivoted to an entirely issues based campaign before the final days race. It might have saved her.

[Maxwell]

This may seem strange, but the Judge and the Billy Bush tapes aside, I think his gaffes helped humanize him in a way that Hillary could never dream of. People saw him make fun of Jeb Bush and they realized that they had thought the same thing. People saw him dox Lindsey Graham and laughed, probably followed a certain universal phrase call rhymes with "Go spit!"

Frankly, while I thought his Khan comments were indefensible and immoral, I also don't think the Khans are angels in the rather arrogant way that they conducted themselves. I think many agreed. Things like this served not to necessary strengthen him, but to certainly make him more immune to criticism. The overload of negative information about him burned itself out and it made him virtually unassailable. Clinton should have pivoted to an entirely issues based campaign before the final days race. It might have saved her.

I agree with this somewhat - he made enough gaffes to where his supporters were like OH COME ON THE MEDIA'S BULLYING HIM. There's certainly a "diminishing returns" effect with gaffes - if you make enough they really stop hurting you and might even start helping you.

[andrew_c]

Trump 328
Clinton 210