Donald Trump vs Joe Biden 2024: Changing Political Parties for the Republican Primary

​Much to the disappoint of many people in this country, Donald Trump looks like he will once again be the Republican candidate for President during election day on November 5, 2024. When asked about the possibility of Trump becoming President for a second time, many people have indicated it would be a pure disaster. I have heard many say that another Trump presidency would lead to many things, including:

“The end of democracy as we know it!”
“The country will be ruined!”
“Racism will get even worse!”
“He will encourage more events like January 6th!”
“Trump will destroy any progress that has been made by Biden!”
“Trump will cause a huge divide and promote violence!”

And the list goes on. It is likely safe to say that many of these people would love to not have to worry about Trump as President again. One would have to wonder, though . . .

If you genuinely and honestly think another Trump presidency will destroy the country, then would you take any available option to prevent that from happening? I am going to also assume that most Trump-haters would prefer that if a Republican DID win the election in November, then they would want it to be Nikki Haley instead of Donald Trump.

If that is the case, then why is there not a stronger effort to stop Trump from winning the Republican primary? I’m not hearing of many Democrats that plan on voting in the Republican primary. Why not? If Trump is truly that dangerous, then why isn’t there more talk about Democrats taking part in these primaries?

For the record, there are 16 “Open Primary” states, meaning you can vote in the Republican primary even if you are a registered Democrat (or not affiliated with any party).  Then, of course, there are “Closed Primary” states. In these states, you can only vote for the primary of your party. There are eight states that have closed primaries, one of which is Florida. 

This is where the effort needs to come in from Democrats if they truly believe Trump will bring the world to a crashing halt. Democrats and Non-Affiliated voters can actually temporarily change their party to Republican and vote in the primary. The only catch is that they must beat the deadline, which, in a state like Florida, is 29 days before the primary election. If you do not beat the deadline, you cannot participate in the Florida Republican primary.

Look at the numbers in Florida. As of December 31, 2023, there were approximately 5.1 million registered Republicans; 4.3 million registered Democrats; and 3.5 million non-affiliated voters.  So, even if Trump were to dominate and win over the “genuine” Republican voters by a margin of something like 60% (2.6 million votes) to 40% (1.7 million votes) against Nikki Haley, there would be an easy opportunity for him to be overtaken. There would still be approximately 7.8 million votes out there! If even just a third of that non-Republican crowd took the time to change their parties and vote for Haley, they could easily make Trump’s path tougher. The same strategy could be used in various other states.

Some have said that this strategy would be too difficult to pull off. Is it? Sure, maybe 30 years ago, it was impossible. Times have changed, though. With us being able to connect to so many people quickly and easily via social media platforms and other online resources, this strategy would CERTAINLY be possible.

So, what will it be? Do Democrat voters (and some non-affiliated voters) think Donald Trump will destroy the world if he becomes President again? If you truly believe that, there are options!