Donald Trump considered clear front-runner in Tennessee

Joey Garrison,
7:16 p.m. CST February 23, 2016


(Photo: Mark Zaleski / AP)

Pundits and party insiders spent months predicting the demise of Donald Trump and explaining why it would happen.
He would say something offensive to derail his run for president. His past record would prove he’s not a real conservative.

The so-called Republican establishment would eventually put its foot down and coalesce around another candidate.
But now as the GOP presidential nomination process turns national and moves into Tennessee — one of 12 states that votes on March 1 — the brash celebrity New York real estate mogul is riding high and considered a clear front-runner here.

Even before his decisive win in South Carolina on Saturday, the straight-talking, polarizing Trump led Ted Cruz in Tennessee by 16 percentage points,according to one of the most recent polls in Tennessee. But South Carolina’s results were the clearest proof yet that Trump’s appeal is resonating in the “Bible Belt” South, where voters who identify as evangelicals are crucial in Republican primaries.

He has defied what was once conventional wisdom.

Many had considered evangelicals overwhelmingly in the corner of Cruz, a firebrand conservative U.S. senator from Texas whose campaign rallies have mirrored revivals. The Cruz campaign long ago circled the "SEC primary" on March 1 — when voting occurs in seven Southern states, including Tennessee — to create a path to the nomination.

But while Cruz remains popular among politically active Christians — and is still leaning on that Southern strategy — exit polling from Saturday’s primary in South Carolina showed Trump actually beat Cruz among evangelical voters.

That surprising takeaway has further solidified Trump as the favorite to win Tennessee, according to some political experts.
http://www.tennessean.com/story/news...ssee/80764542/