On The Presidential Campaign Trail

Stephen Henderson meets with Don Gonyea, NPR‘s National Political Correspondent and former WDET reporter, to discuss his work covering the campaign trail of the 2016 presidential candidates. Gonyea talks about a few of the candidates, both Republican and Democrat:

• Scott Walker (R): Gonyea says Walker is a very serious contender in this presidential race and is currently “polling in the top tier.” He says Walker emerged from his survival of the Wisconsin gubernatorial recall election in 2012 stronger than ever and that it was only a matter of time before he started a presidential campaign. He says if Walker wins in Iowa it would be an important moment in his campaign.
• Donald Trump (R): Gonyea says that although Trump is also polling in the top tier, he is not drawing strong support from the Republican Party and negative views of Trump are “sky-high.” He says other candidates are only now beginning to attack Trump and everyone should be suspicious of regarding him as a serious candidate in the presidential race at this point.
• Bernie Sanders (I/D): Gonyea says Sanders’ success on the campaign trail has been a surprise for many and that the question now is whether or not Sanders can sustain this trend. He says Democrats are excited about having Sanders in the race, but that the Clinton campaign doesn’t seem to be engaging him or taking his campaign seriously. 
• Hillary Clinton (D): Gonyea says that although Clinton is not as open with reporters as Sanders is, Clinton is running a very different and much larger campaign. He says she is “learning the lessons of eight years ago” but it won’t be known if she learned them correctly until next year.

Click the audio link above to hear the full discussion.