Trump May Lose Wisconsin Because of This Mistake

The Wisconsin primary is on Tuesday, and Donald Trump is not expected to win. Although Trump is the GOP frontrunner, and consistently beats his Republican opponents Ted Cruz and John Kasich by substantial delegate margins, there is little chance that the people of Wisconsin will vote to "Make America Great Again." In fact, a recent Marquette Law School Poll expects that Cruz will win the Wisconsin vote — 40 percent of it — whereas Trump will likely lag and receive only 30 percent of Republican votes in the midwestern state.

Trump certainly realizes how important beating Cruz in Wisconsin would be. In fact, a week before the April 5 primary, CNN quoted Trump as saying, "If we win Wisconsin, it's going to be over — pretty much over." In this statement, Trump implied that if he wins Wisconsin, it would become even more unlikely that Cruz could become the Republican nominee. For this reason, Trump spent the week leading up to the Wisconsin primary stumping in the state, trying to garner support.

However, during his week of campaigning in Wisconsin, Trump made a crucial mistake, one that is likely to make it impossible for him to win the state — he continually insulted Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

The same Marquette Law School Poll that has predicted a loss for Trump in Wisconsin, also found that 80 percent of Wisconsin Republicans view their governor favorably. It makes little sense why Trump would say anything against such a popular governor — but Walker's popularity didn't stop Trump's insults.

Just a week before the primary, Trump appeared on a conservative Wisconsin radio show, addressed the people of Wisconsin, and remarked on Walker's presidential campaign: "Your governor came out, he was expected to win and we sent him packing like a little boy." This insulting referral to Walker's failed attempt to secure the Republican presidential nomination certainly did not help Trump's Wisconsin poll results. Yet, the candidate did not stop there, later going on to insult the entire state and people of Wisconsin. Trump said of Walker at a Wisconsin rally a week before the primary, "He's not doing a great job. ... Your governor has convinced you [Wisconsin] doesn't have problems."

Wisconsin very well may have problems, and Walker could even be the cause of said problems. However, by telling the people of Wisconsin that they have been "convinced" by their governor that their state is issue-free, Trump portrayed the people of Wisconsin as gullible and unable to think for themselves. It is hard to imagine too many self-respecting Wisconsinites not being insulted by Trump's condescension, and questioning of their support for Walker.

Unsurprisingly, one week before the Wisconsin primary, Walker endorsed Cruz. Trump's response to this endorsement was no less insulting to Walker: "Look, I beat him very badly. [Walker] was going in as a favorite in the presidential run. I knew he couldn't endorse me. I never called and asked him for an endorsement." Again, Trump returned to bragging about beating Walker, in Wisconsin. Considering Walker's popularity as a governor amongst Republicans, his endorsement certainly aided the Cruz campaign and hurt Trump. But Trump doubled down on his insults.

It cannot be denied, Trump did beat Walker in the Republican primary. However, continually remarking on this win, and thus insulting Walker's campaign as well as his governorship, could not have helped, but rather hurt Trump's chances of endearing himself to the people of Wisconsin. With this, it looks like Trump may have given Wisconsin to Cruz.