This would assume he could get out of the primary, which he only won Ohio in.
Yes, I agree. He couldn't get out of the primary. But that's irrelevant to my point (or even enhances it when you think about it)
The GOP could have easily put up someone who could have defeated Hillary.
Look at Hillary's unfavorables. Look, I think Hillary is a great candidate for President but most Americans do not. They do not understand things like we do; they are not politically well-versed.
The Obama coalition is holding strong because they really hate Trump. But many groups are not voting for her as they did for Obama.
And someone like Kasich could have changed the race by a lot. I'm not saying he wins; I'm saying it would most certainly be close and he'd have a very good shot.
Yes, Obama is popular and things are going much better but the American electorate, as a whole, is pretty stupid and reacts weirdly to things. Al Gore losing in 2000 is proof enough (and I don't care how bad a campaign he ran, the race shouldn't have been close).
a better shot than Trump has, but that's literally anyone. Nancy Pelosi running on the R ticket would be getting more republican votes than Trump right now. This is a disaster.
I can see Kasich doing Romney numbers- maybe even give him ohio- but that's not going to be enough when demographics have been unfavorable for the party as a whole and gotten worse since 2012.
He would have had to contend with being badly outmatched on funding and ground game, just as Trump is- and wouldn't have had the benefit of all the "Free Media" coverage Trump gets to offset that.
Without Trump, this election wouldn't have been about the demographics as much as the turnout.
And I am thoroughly convinced without a Trump/Cruz type candidate, turnout for Hillary would have been a problem.