I'm not sure about that. If Bernie S gets it and they can get the young people out to vote, he can't lose. As Americans say, "Do the math"...

Nope because alienating the black & Hispanic vote the way he has will mean he will not get many votes from these groups and they are increasingly important in American elections.

Also he is a firebrand & a wildcard. He may play to his audience, but for more moderately minded people what looks a better bet: the calm, experienced politician with years of experience or the loud mouthed hothead who loves to offend. Ultimately a GE is not a joke & Americans will vote seriously on the day.

If, in the unlikely scenario he was to become president, I'd expect him to be assassinated pretty quickly.

He's been bankrupt several times. He's had powerful friends bail hIm out & because he has money he can soon acquire it again.

I actually think he isn't too bright. He certainly doesn't seem so in interviews, it's all bluster & posturing. To me he is full of horsesh*t & I agree with an earlier poster who indicated he is all mouth & no trousers. This is a colossal egotist who wants a go at the top job.

Indeed this entire great businessman nonsense is the most irritating bit of his campaign, he inherited millions.

I haven't voted in the poll because we live in strange times. Billionaire media execs have so much power, and because the voting percentage is so low you don't need anything like a majority of actual population to win.

Would be apt in todays society if a Twitter troll was president.

He's like UKIP and Farage. He's an insider who's pretending to be an outsider to give the public a controlled form of protest. The actual revolutionaries are invisible. There's no way that mainstream media would give them coverage.

That's what they said about Obama...

I suppose it would depend on who his VP was. The best life insurance policy he could have it to appoint Sarah Palin to the job.

Yes the choice of VP is important.

Current state of the poll

62 people have voted

20 have voted YES

42 have voted NO

Clinton vs Trump would be great television.

Yes it would. It is a long while until we know if that is going to happen.

Politics in America is a big joke, the ordinary voter is excluded from the process other than when required to vote, to hold office you need to be wealthy, big interests control the Capitol and the two sham parties.

If the UK had not gone through the political changes over the centuries we would be politically like America, Politics is very family orientated with dominant dynasties and that's another reason why America needs political revolution to put power back in the hands of the people.

I don't care for Trump or his politics but he does tend to say things while unpopular with the chattering classes appeal to the ordinary yank, better a trump than a two face closet lying communist like that awful Clinton woman.

And this is why I love the fact that mainstream media is becoming irrelevant, the net was a true blessing for free speech and the notion we can use it to research and find facts for ourselves.

Sounds like the sort of thing a Trump,supporter would say?

If it was up to the mainstream media Trump would have been finished weeks ago!

You sound smart. Please tell me more about American politics.

lmao. no really.

In the UK you, I or even Digital Spy's resident monster raving looney can stand for office, if as an independent we pay the ballot fee or the party pays if you are a member, we can use our vote to influence or make change but in the USA it's a different kettle of fish.

Want to become a councilman then you have to raise huge sums for your campaign, your background is often a factor in your hopes for election into office, even in the relatively less well off wards the parties tend to stand mealy mouthed party stooges with funds that will ensure any local independent is shafted in terms of campaign spending.

I may be wrong but I'm pretty certain I read that in order to run for senate,Capitol or president you need to have a uni education, considering how many go to uni to get worthless degrees that would not be a problem to many but the stumbling block will always be money and family connections.

America is not very democratic for the ordinary American who are excluded as much as possible from the politic process, the system used to elect a president is the most ridiculous way to vote in my opinion.

The electoral college is again in my opinion stupid, each state has electors that are voted for by the electorate who then vote for a president, what's the point of having a middle man? someone who is not beholden to vote for the candidate who the elector may want. It's like they are afraid of the voter having any real influence.

I read politics at uni and don't even pretend to understand it even today, our system is far from perfect but it's ten time better that what they have in the US.

Yes, yes you are. You really have no idea what you are talking about. You said you studied it some at UNI? I would advise you to study A LOT more. You are more than welcome to come on a forum and rant all you want but all you are doing is displaying your ignorance to the public.

[Edit] Since you are new to DS I'll let you know that you will be challenged on your ideas so I would advise to come prepared. I'm one of the nice ones so you better be prepared to look out for the DS Road Warriors.

Besides stating you need a degree (only 1 senator without a degree however) which isnt correct what do you actually disagree with.

Or are you just going to be an idiot and flame him. Your edit is laughable you say nothing about his post just flame... begone troll.

Our own system has its own faults, with the grammar schools gone most of our new intake of mps come from upper moddle class backrounds that went to private schools and oxford uni. Sure a good education is a good thing but so is a different perspective from a poorer upbringing.

Anyway trump for 2016

I read politics but I am the first to say I know sod all about it now,to me it was an easy option at the time (had lots of help from a very smitten Proffessor), gained two degrees and it was the other one that has ensured my career so far.

The political process is far too hostile in America though, I dread the day the uk starts to go the USA way in terms of political dynasties, funding and campaigning.

How did you end up believing that Hillary Clinton is a "closet communist"?

Blame a professor at my uni for that, I remember his 'she is a closet communist' comment, he never explained his reasoning for it and I guess it stuck with me.

He was very right wing but lovable, sad that he has now gone - to live in New Zealand the lucky old bugger.😄

Your first error is that you are trying to equate the UK with the US government and they are 2 different forms of Government. The US (like Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Germany, and more) is a Federalist system of government. Therefore powers to the states are granted in the constitution. Each state is therefore empowered to create their own state laws and regulations in accordance with federal guidelines. Each state has their own state government that are also made up of the 3 branches of government. Executive = Governor, Legislative = (State Senate and House), and Judicial = State Supreme Court. From there each city has their own Mayors and city councilman and so on and so on. When looking at the US system of government it is best to picture it as 50 different countries, with their own governments, unified under one central government (kind of what the EU desperately wants to be). The majority of power within the United States lies with the states themselves. The representatives in Washington are beholden to their state constituency and if the state voters do not feel that those representatives are fairly representing them then they will be thrown out of office (which happens quite often in elections).
Anybody can run for political office, from the state city councilmen on up to President. It does not take a lot of money to be elected in any of the public seats (Other than President) . You just have to campaign in your state and be electable by those people.

Incorrect, it is not required to have a college education to hold public office. In fact there are 27 members in the house of representatives and 1 senator that does not have a college degree. It is entirely up to whether or not the states voting public believe they are qualified to represent them. In many cases it is their opinion that their delegate should have a degree and therefore vote accordingly.

Just factually not true. Read my first statement.

The electoral college was created so that each state would have a better chance to be heard in Washington. Each state is given an elector based upon how many House of Representatives and Senators they have. While it is weighted based on that states population, it prevents highly populated states like California and New York from running rough shot over the smaller states. It was designed to prevent the imbalance of power that the UK has between London and say Scotland or Northern Ireland. Since the US is so vast and the people in Alabama are completely different than say Oregon, it gives each state more of a voice on the federal level.
I will agree with you that the amount of money needed in the Presidential election is absurd and there does need to be campaign finance reform. Other than that, the US federal system is far more representative of its people from the state on up than is the UK. You might not like the US and you might want to rant about it but at least be factually correct and drop the unsubstantiated nonsense.

Nanny nanny boo boo stick your head in doo doo.

It seems beyond a stretch to me that he could appeal to a broad enough coalition of voters to get to the White House.

And I'm still not convinced he will even win the nomination. Iowa will give us an insight into how solid his support really is.

Well the whole point of this thread is to record people's opinions before any votes are cast.