Presidential candidates Sen. Bernie Sanders and real estate tycoon Donald Trump both draw on the populist wings of their parties, but neither will win the nomination – and both could make the campaign trail rockier for whoever does, GOP political analyst Karl Rove says.
In a commentary piece for
the Wall Street Journal Wednesday night, the former deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush and American Crossroads PAC organizer writes the Democratic contender Sanders and GOP candidate Trump have one thing in common: Both are "disrupters" who "are planning to hang around."
"Mr. Sanders, an ideological true-believer, wants to drag his party further left,'' Rove writes. "Mr. Trump wants to draw attention and become a political force. It will be interesting to see how other White House hopefuls handle these disruptive intraparty rivals."
"Mr. Sanders and Mr. Trump won’t win their party’s nomination," Rove adds. "But in trying, they could make the path to the White House that much rockier for whoever eventually does.
So far, Rove notes, Sanders has gained about 250,000 donors and turned out huge crowds in Iowa, Wisconsin, Maine and New Hampshire – cutting into Hillary Clinton's lead in Iowa to 34 points from 51, and her margin in New Hampshire to 16 from 37.
"Mrs. Clinton is dealing with Mr. Sanders’s challenge by moving left," Rove writes. "Mr. Sanders could also pull her so far left in the primaries as to create openings for Republicans to exploit in the general election."
Meanwhile, Trump's rise to 6.5 percent in
the Real Clear Politics average "comes at the expense of others competing for the same space, including neurosurgeon Ben Carson, [Texas] Sen. Ted Cruz and [Wisconsin] Gov. Scott Walker," Rove writes. "None of them is as blunt and outrageous in tapping into resentment as Mr. Trump."
"The response of GOP candidates to Mr. Trump should be guided by the June 23 Fox News Poll showing that 64 percent of Republicans, 69 percent of conservatives and 55 percent of tea party members consider his candidacy a sideshow," Rove writes, charging his favorable ratings are the worst of 106 presidential candidates since 1980.
"Mr. Trump is disliked by 57 percent of his own party," Rove writes.