There's been no opportunity yet for comparing and contrasting Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton in real time. That will occur in the general election campaign.
Once it's Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton standing side-by-side, there'll be no doubt in the minds of the electorate Hillary is a terrible candidate.
Unlikable and under a cloud of controversy over Benghazi, illegal email server, Clinton foundation pay-for-play, old scandals brought to the surface, two full-scale FBI investigations. Hillary is a walking disaster for the Democrats.
Trump will brand Hillary within seconds and beat her like a rented mule in November.
For all intents and purposes Hillary Clinton is the incumbent candidate:
And Carter was at least likable, though perceived as incompetent.
That's funny, AC. You act as if everybody will be a blank slate the minute it's Trump vs. Clinton. The fact is, Trump is already branded in the eyes of the public and so is Clinton. His unfavorables are higher than hers and have been throughout, he is a known quantity, and polls indicate that over 50% of voters say they will never vote for Trump. That is not going to change.
Plus, alongside Hillary, Trump is going to look like the incompetent he is. She is a far better debater than he is, and he will have to answer substantive policy questions that he has, so far, shown no ability to master.
The minute he slams her looks (which is his pattern with women opponents), he's cooked. Cable and network channels will not be able, due to campaign rules, to let Trump simply call in and spout off whenever he wants. Equal time prevails in the general.
Large donors are already announcing they will not be supporting Trump with PAC ads; instead, they will pour their money into protecting down-ballot Republicans in congressional races. So, Trump will have to make do with taxpayer money funding his campaign, or dig into his own pocket, which he has been loathe to do so far.
Trump has a big hill to climb and his numbers are not improving, as Reagan's did. Spouting idiocies like withdrawing from NATO, reviving waterboarding, and forcing Israel to repay its foreign aid won't help.