Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump leads his Republican rivals in the delegate race and remains the race’s front-runner headed into voting on Tuesday in several states.
While the 2016 election marks Trump’s first official foray into the world of politics, he has toyed with the idea of a presidential campaign during previous cycles.
With that in mind, we revisited some interviews CNN did with Americans back in 1999, right after Trump announced his plans to form an exploratory committee. The billionaire businessman didn’t end up running in 2000 — and given the responses CNN received then about a potential candidacy — that was probably a good choice.
And in a sign how political times have changed, it turns out some of the very things voters now tout as the things they like about Trump — his status as a political outsider, his business experience and his notoriety — pushed away many of those interviewed in 1999.
See the voters in their own words in the video above.
