“I have a mandate from the people,” Donald Trump insists. The GOP front-runner is using that argument to resist pressure from Republicans to moderate his abrasive style and become more “presidential.”
Trump does, of course, have some claim to a mandate to lead the Republican Party. He defeated 16 other Republican contenders. As of May 15, Trump had won about 11 million Republican primary votes out of 27 million cast. That’s 41 percent, not quite a majority. Trump will face an entirely different electorate in November, though. About 129 million Americans voted in the 2012 presidential election. Republican nominee Mitt Romney won nearly 61 million, and still lost. In order to win the White House, Trump will likely have to gain at least 54 million new supporters.