Trump’s fate may rest with former
supporters of arch-critic Mitt Romney
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[September 15, 2016]
By James Oliphant
COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s
presidential candidacy has triggered anguished soul searching among many
college-educated and affluent Republicans who must decide whether to
back him, sit out the election, or do the unthinkable: vote for his
opponent, Hillary Clinton.
With less than two months to go before the Nov. 8 election, rural, white
voters who lack a college degree have flocked to Trump. But his brash
style and lack of experience in government are a much tougher sell among
well-off Republicans who have long been a backbone of the party,
according to Reuters/Ipsos polling and interviews with
Republican-leaning white collar professionals.
Trump’s hopes of capturing the White House may rest on whether he can
win over enough of these voters in battleground states such as Ohio,
Virginia and Colorado to offset Clinton's overwhelming advantages with
minority voters, young people, urban voters and women.
"If you had told me two years ago that I would be voting for Hillary
Clinton, I would have said, ‘No freaking way,’” said Michael Sheehan,
chief operating officer of a Columbus-based apparel firm.
Sheehan is now leaning toward Clinton, the Democratic nominee, because
he worries Trump would damage U.S. relations abroad.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Sep/15/images/ads/current/cca_laptop-sda021709.png)
Reuters/Ipsos polling shows that Clinton is doing better among affluent
and college-educated voters than President Barack Obama did four years
ago, even among Republicans. It’s a warning signal for Trump, who has
been shunned by blacks, Latinos and millennial voters.
In 2012, nearly nine out of every 10 Republicans with a college degree
and annual income over $100,000 supported then Republican candidate Mitt
Romney. Now, about seven in 10 support Trump.
Romney won college-educated voters over Obama by 4 percentage points in
2012, but the Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll showed Clinton with a 48-28
percent advantage among those same voters last month.
The same gap is playing out in key swing states. In Ohio, Clinton has a
47-36 percent edge among the college educated, according to a Monmouth
University poll in August.
“It’s amazing how few Trump supporters I’ve run into,” said James King,
a partner in a prominent Columbus law firm who backed Romney in 2012 but
who likely will vote for Clinton.
Marsha Blackburn, a congresswoman from Tennessee who is one of Trump’s
biggest supporters in Washington, said Trump's proposal this week for a
child-care tax credit was an example of policies that can appeal to more
affluent Republicans.
Trump still needs to “keep pushing his economic message, keep talking
about national security, keep talking about these issues that are so
important to moms, these working-family issues,” she told Reuters.
ROMNEY REPUBLICANS
Ohio, with its 18 electoral votes, is crucial for Trump and he has
campaigned intensively in the state. But in populous, largely suburban
central Ohio, Trump has a tougher task than in the rural counties that
surround it.
The local economy skews toward white-collar workers and professionals
and does not depend on the manufacturing revival Trump has promised in
his “Make America Great Again” message.
Romney, the scion of a wealthy family and former private equity fund
manager, was a more natural fit with many Republicans in the area. He
epitomized what sometimes has been called the “country club
Republicans." They favor smaller government, less intrusive regulations
and put less weight on conservative social values.
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![](../images/091516pics/news_z47.jpg)
Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney greets CEOs after
addressing a business roundtable with company leaders in Washington,
June 13, 2012. Pictured alongside Romney is Boeing CEO James
McNerney. REUTERS/Jason Reed/File Photo
![](../images/ads/current/richardson_lda_090916.png)
Trump, the real-estate magnate from Manhattan, would seem similar,
but some Republican professionals in central Ohio can’t get past his
temperament and comments like the one suggesting illegal immigrants
from Mexico are rapists and murderers. Romney himself has been a
fierce critic of Trump.
“There’s no way I could ever vote for that guy,” said King, the law
firm partner, adding that Trump’s criticism of the family of a
Muslim soldier, Humayun Khan, who was killed in action, soured him
on Trump for good.
An NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll of registered voters
last month showed Clinton ahead among white, college-educated voters
in Colorado, where she held a 55-23 percent edge; in North Carolina,
where she held a 47-40 percent advantage; and in Virginia, where she
held a 43-37 percent edge.
Bradley Barbin, a white-collar criminal defense lawyer in Columbus,
has decorated the walls of his office with Republican memorabilia
stretching back a century. He faults Trump for stirring resentment
and for encouraging violence at his rallies.
Trump has denied there is significant violence at his events and has
blamed the media for exaggerating scuffles with protesters.
Barbin said he likely won’t back Clinton. “Do I know exactly what I
am going to do? No. But I do know that Trump’s the bigger problem,”
he said.
Among affluent Republicans who do support Trump, several said that
whatever reservations they may have about him as a candidate, it was
more important to keep Clinton from the presidency.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Sep/15/images/ads/current/peasleymemorials_lda100213.png)
“I think she’s a bad person,” said William Bay, a retired
nephrologist who lives in Hilliard, a suburb of Columbus, who lauded
Trump as an agent of change.
Trump’s campaign has long contended there exists a swath of Trump
voters who won’t talk to the press or pollsters for fear of being
demonized, but who will show up at the polls in November.
But it's also possible that some Republicans, once in the privacy of
the voting booth, will go with Clinton because of their concerns
about Trump. Barbin, the Columbus defense lawyer, said that’s the
takeaway from conversations with his peers.
“We all know,” he said, “that there are certain people you just
cannot give that kind of unfettered power to. You just can’t.”
(Additional reporting by Chris Kahn and Grant Smith; Editing by
Caren Bohan and Ross Colvin)
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