Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has a plan for running for president in 2016, according to National Review: don’t focus on winning over Independents, instead hedge on getting “Jews, Hispanics, and Millenials.”
That’s according to a new report in National Review on Monday which said that the Texas senator, if he does decide to run for president as he’s rumored to be planning on, has a strategy for victory that does not center around winning independents. As an unnamed adviser put it to National Review, “winning independents has meant not winning.”
The Cruz circle cited John Kerry in 2004 and Mitt Romney in 2012, who respectively won Independents but lost anyway, as well as George W. Bush in 2000 where he won Independents but lost the popular vote.
Cruz’s team directed National Review to internal polling that showed 40 percent of Hispanics in Texas supporting the junior senator from Texas. The advisers also noted that on social media he’s the most discussed potential presidential candidate.
There’s data stacking against this strategy. According to the Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project, Jewish voters split 69-30 for President Barack Obama over Romney in 2012.
TPM has previously highlighted the shape of Cruz’s (unofficial) campaign team. Like TPM, the National Review report cited that Cruz’s campaign would likely be run by Jason Johnson, who helped Cruz win election in 2012, and Jeff Roe, a Republican consultant who runs Axiom Strategies and is reportedly planning on moving to Texas.
