Donald Trump may be at the top of the Republican ticket, but for some conservatives he is still not the top priority. While Trump has succeeded in consolidating Republican voters, and even brought aboard former rival and detractor Sen. Ted Cruz, some grassroots conservatives are still choosing to focus their resources on down ballot races rather than the battle for the White House.
In order to get a better sense for why some in the conservative grassroots are choosing to stay on the sidelines of the presidential race, CNN’s Dana Bash spoke to the leaders of three conservative groups.
“We had concluded after the primary season last year, we didn’t have a strong endorsement for him,” said David McIntosh, president of Club for Growth, about Trump. McIntosh made clear his group isn’t supporting Hillary Clinton, but said they want to “return to our bread-and-butter” and focus extensively on the Senate and House races.
For McIntosh, the decision not to support the Republican nominee came down to policy disagreements, especially on trade, with both presidential candidates. Like others, the Club for Growth president said he sees the Senate and the House as an effective, and important, check-and-balance on any future president.
And, McIntosh is not alone. Americans for Prosperity, the primary political organization for the Koch brothers, is also staying out of the presidential campaign this cycle. The group’s president Tim Phillips stresses that his group is not “an appendage” of the Republican Party and doesn’t always play in presidential politics. He believes their 1,000 field staff and volunteers can make a bigger difference by worrying about the Senate.
“Our message is the issues matter more than the personalities and to try to look behind all of the he said she said stuff,” he said.
With fewer than 50 days until the election, Trump has finally won the support of some who until now had been reluctant.
Just before the first presidential debate the Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund, a super PAC affiliated with Tea Party Patriots, came out with an endorsement for Trump. The group’s chairman, Jenny Beth Martin says they needed to get through their work on down ballot races, in Arizona and in Florida, before turning their attention to the general election.
“He’s taken the issues we care about and made them the focus of his campaign in many ways,” she said, when asked about the change of heart.
That means Trump will benefit from the group’s network of three million supporters nationwide, and from the help of tens of thousands of volunteers door-knocking and making calls in Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio and North Carolina.
“At the end of the day, we’re united,” she said. “We stand united on our principles.”
But even for those like McIntosh and Phillips who aren’t publicly endorsing Trump, the choice to support candidates farther down the ticket, may just be a disguised way of helping the nominee.
McIntosh conceded that his group could be inadvertently aiding Trump by bringing Republican voters to the polls, but said he doesn’t have a problem with that.
“After the primary season, there were a number of Republicans who said I may just not vote and our message to them is it’s so important, this election. Do what you think is right in the presidential race,” he said.
Phillips disagreed that support for down ballot candidates could end up helping Trump. He believes voters are evaluating candidates on a case-by-case bases.
“I do think they’re differentiating a bit,” he said. “It’s harder to make a case that this is some massive wave election. This is an atypical presidential race.”