Trump/Rubio 2016?! It could happen, say analysts.
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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says he could see Florida Sen. Marco Rubio as his running mate. And logistically, some political analysts say, adding Senator Rubio to the GOP ticket might be a smart move for Trump.聽
In an interview with USA Today鈥檚 Kristen Powers Thursday, Mr. Trump hypothesized on potential vice president candidates.聽
鈥渊别蝉. ,鈥 Trump tells Powers, when asked if he could see himself appointing Rubio to a position in his cabinet. 鈥淭here are people I have in mind in terms of vice president. I just haven鈥檛 told anybody names鈥. I do like Marco. I do like [John] Kasich鈥. I like [Scott] Walker actually in a lot of ways. I hit him very hard鈥. But I鈥檝e always liked him. There are people I like, but I don鈥檛 think they like me because I have hit them hard.鈥澛
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker tells the Associated Press that even imagining himself as Trump鈥檚 running mate is shocking. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 even fathom鈥 being Trump鈥檚 vice president, says Governor Walker. 鈥.鈥 And Ohio Governor Kasich 鈥 who remains in the presidential race himself as a distant third 鈥 is still adamant that 鈥淚鈥檓 not going to be .鈥 So that leaves Rubio.聽聽
That鈥檚 not to say that Rubio is a last-resort option. In fact, Rubio might make the most sense for Trump considering that the senator, who suspended his campaign in March, is still in third place among Republican presidential candidates. Some also speculate that the son of Cuban immigrants might be able to help Trump with his "Hispanic problem."
Despite having stopped campaigning March 15 after an embarrassing defeat in his home state of Florida, Rubio still has more delegates than Kasich. behind Trump鈥檚 742 and Sen. Ted Cruz鈥檚 529. Kasich trails in fourth place with 143 delegates. And Rubio says he plans to keep his delegates, implying that his bid for presidency remains alive.聽
鈥淚t is my desire at this time that the delegates allocated to me by your rules remain bound to vote for me on at least the first nominating ballot at the National Convention,鈥 Rubio wrote to party leaders in Alaska, Oklahoma, and the District of Columbia, assuring them that he did 鈥 as a result of the 2015 delegate selection process that took place in your State.鈥
So if Trump fails to win 1,237 delegates before the Republican Convention in July, a contested convention could occur and delegates previously "bound" to Trump would be released and would then be . And this would spell trouble for Trump because any candidate 鈥 especially one with an already sizable number of delegates 鈥 is fair game for the presidential nomination. But if Rubio endorsed another candidate (by accepting a VP nomination) from Rubio to, say, the Trump-Rubio ticket.聽
Along with helping Trump in the delegate game, Rubio could boost the frontrunner鈥檚 abysmal ratings among Hispanic voters. According to a Gallup poll from last month, , compared with only 12 percent who view him favorably. Given that Trump has characterized Mexicans as drug traffickers and rapists, called for a giant wall to be constructed along the US-Mexico border (which Mexico would pay for), and advocated for immediate deportations of all unauthorized immigrants, his poor standing with Hispanic voters is unsurprising.聽
Rubio, on the other hand, is the son of Cuban immigrants and a favored Republican candidate among Hispanics. With a favorability rating of 32 percent among all Latinos, Rubio leads both Cruz, whose father is also from Cuba, and Kasich, who have 26 and 15 percent favorability ratings respectively. And among Hispanic Republicans exclusively, Rubio leads Cruz, Kasich, and Trump with . 聽
With a record in the 2016 presidential election, Trump can鈥檛 afford to ignore this demographic. While Trump decisively won Rubio鈥檚 home state of Florida, Rubio won among Hispanic voters in Florida . 聽聽
"Sen. Rubio should be on ," Al Cardenas, former head of the American Conservative Union, tells the Washington Times. "He may be looking to another cycle and interested in making friends more than making enemies."