Five Reasons Trump’s a Success Among American Voters

Robert W. Merry, author and political editor of The National Interest, has named five reasons why Donald Trump, whose presidential campaign was first considered a joke, not only didn’t disappear with the start of actual voting, but now has high chances of actually becoming president.

In his article for The National Interest Merry mentioned several people who became president despite conventional wisdom that they would never reach office, including Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama. Once the "unthinkable" happened, it became commonplace. Now the same scenario can work with Trump, who emerged out of nowhere but is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Merry opined.

There are several factors to why the real estate mogul has been leading in polls since he launched his presidential campaign and why his popularity hasn't faded, Merry wrote.

The first factor is that Trump has expressed the frustration of many Americans with the forced political correctness, the "bludgeon of right thinking" that has "practically destroyed free speech and free thought" in the US. According to Merry, political correctness has successfully narrowed the range of political discourse by labeling as illegitimate certain views that were considered entirely acceptable only a few years ago. Trump has stood up to that.

Although Trump was criticized by both Democrats and some Republicans for his call to temporarily ban entry of Muslims into the country, exit polls during the primary season revealed that significant numbers of Americans agreed with his rhetoric.

Another factor is Trump's determination to deal with the issue of sealing the US border. Nobody in Washington had previously demonstrated a credible seriousness about the problem. Trump has shown disdain for political correctness, which had enveloped the debate, and has made it clear he would do something about illegal immigration. He hasn't just transformed the terms of the debate but also the dynamics of the issue.

Merry also noted that although America's elite institutions, such as media, corporations, finance, Hollywood, think tanks and other entities are dominated by globalists, nationalist sentiment is still widespread in America. Now, frustrated nationalists have a figure to turn to and vote for — Donald Trump.

Another explanation for Trump's success is the decline of the middle class, people who once were considered the engine of the country's growth and progress.

According to a 2015 report by the Pew Research Center, the American middle class has shrunk to less than half the population, compared to 61 percent in the late 1960s. The economic decline has brought along significant increases in divorce, alcoholism, drug use and suicide.

Now the people who feel like they have been left behind by the political elites, which are "focused on helping the poor and bringing in immigrants," have someone who speaks to them and their plight. His name is Donald Trump.

Finally, the "coarsening of American culture" has also come into play, Merry believes. A decades-long assault on traditional mores and values relating to sex, drug use, everyday language, marriage, ethics, etc. has made acceptable a behavior once frowned upon by society. "The vulgarization of American culture" has paved the way for Trump's brand of "tawdry politics", Merry concluded.