Did Trump Rally Violence Help Hillary Clinton?

[vdogg]

http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/how-hillary-clinton-triumphed-on-tuesday

In the wake of Hillary Clinton’s big wins on Tuesday—she finished ahead of Bernie Sanders in Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio—I’ve heard several people suggest that the violence at a Donald Trump rally in Chicago, last Friday, may have helped her.* “I think some Democrats got scared,” a Sanders supporter told me. “They saw what could happen if Trump is elected, and they said we need someone mainstream and reliable to stop him.”

[leftofcool]

1. It is possible. I think people are seeing the light.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. No, but it will help her immensely in the G E

Folks who just want to pay their bills, send their kids to school, and get along will be appalled by the chaos that follows Donald Trump.

[WI_DEM]

3. Both Sanders and Clinton have denounced the violence and rhetoric of Trump

I'm not sure it helped one over the other.

[astrophuss42]

4. I don't think it hurt her per se

Especially when Bernie supporters were associated with it, looked bad on both sides.

Hillary is more of a covert type.

[Kip Humphrey]

5. FEAR has helped Hillary (that & spring break!)

[Renew Deal]

6. Maybe it was seeing Bernie supporters at the center of a melee and charging podiums?

[Iliyah]

10. This

[lagomorph777]

7. Yes, if you buy the invalid meme that Hillary is stronger in the GE

But polls consistently show that both parties are on track to nominate their weakest candidates:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/2016_presidential_race.html

General Election: Trump vs. Clinton
Poll Date Clinton (D) Trump (R) Spread
RCP Average 2/11 - 3/6 47.3 41.0 Clinton +6.3

General Election: Cruz vs. Clinton
Poll Date Cruz (R) Clinton (D) Spread
RCP Average 2/10 - 3/6 46.2 45.4 Cruz +0.8

General Election: Trump vs. Sanders
Poll Date Sanders (D) Trump (R) Spread
RCP Average 2/10 - 3/6 50.8 40.8 Sanders +10.0

General Election: Cruz vs. Sanders
Poll Date Sanders (D) Cruz (R) Spread
RCP Average 2/10 - 2/27 50.0 40.3 Sanders +9.7

[lagomorph777]

8. NPR: Trump's riot threats will destroy the GOP like a killer comet

http://www.npr.org/2016/03/16/470715913/why-the-presidential-primary-race-is-far-from-over

SHAPIRO: Riots - well, as we are hearing elsewhere in the program, some conservatives are pushing to form a third party. There is no modern history of success there. What can they realistically gain by this effort?

LIASSON: Well, the strategy is to get conservatives and Republicans who won't vote for Trump or Clinton to come out and vote for Republicans for House and Senate. Otherwise, if they stay home, Republicans could lose down ballot. In last night's exit polls, 2 out of 5 Republican voters in every state but Florida told pollsters they would consider voting for a third party.

This really is a last resort if Trump can't be stopped at the convention. And we may be witnessing something that we've never seen in over a hundred years, which is the potential breakup of a major political party or at least the utter transformation of the Republican Party.

And Sally Bradshaw, who was the Florida Republican who ran Jeb Bush's campaign, said to Politico this week - she said, quote, "Donald Trump has done to the Republican Party what the killer comet did to the dinosaurs."

[Gothmog]

9. Trump's rally violence appears to have helped Clinton