Former President Donald Trump is the last candidate standing in the Republican race for President. Yet the presumptive GOP nominee is still dealing with protest votes for former opponents who have long since suspended their campaigns, a trend noticed by the Trump antagonists at the Lincoln Project.
Their latest ad, billed as part of the Project's "Audience of One" series, contends that Trump is "bleeding money and supporters, losing voters to candidates not even in the race" and is "weak, tired, running out of options."
The 60-second spot includes a breathy female narrator noting that Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis say they're "out of the race" and that they "dragged (Trump) publicly."
"They keep winning votes in the Primaries without even trying," the narration notes. "Their voters just don't like you."
A spokesperson for the Lincoln Project said the "ad speaks directly to Trump and is meant to get right into his head."
Florida, where the Primary happened weeks after other candidates cleared the field (yet were still on the ballot), illustrates the remnant of Republican protest votes.
Trump won the state with 81% of the vote, with Haley grabbing 14% and DeSantis, who left the race between the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire Primary, garnering another 4%. No other candidate got more than 1%.
Upon leaving the race, DeSantis said "a majority of Republican Primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance."
To help that decision along, the state party endorsed Trump weeks before voters got a chance to weigh in.
DeSantis downplayed the protest votes for Haley after last month's Primary, saying "Haley was a candidate when mail ballots went out," and that "people sent in mail ballots who maybe didn't want Trump."
However, those protest votes continue to happen for dead campaigns in other states as well.
And if you buy the Lincoln Project's ad, that could hurt the former President in November.
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