Question

In what ways was the Republican party fracturing before the 2016 election? Essentially, how do we know it was a highly factionalized party?

*This is all the information*

Answer 1

The republican party was fractured before the 2016 election in different ways. The first way was the lack of consensus among the party members, senators and lawmakers upon the name of the presidential candidate and its suitability even if the name of Mr. Donald Trump was declared as Republican party nominee. But, it was on a majoritarian basis, and not on a consensus basis. It shows the fraction in the party. The second way is the lack of unity upon the ideas proposed by Mr. Trump such as making America great again and following the path of conflict with the allies. Some republican party members were opposed to this approach as it could Alienate USA from its major partner countries. The third way is the dissatisfaction and publicly voiced concerns by the Republican party members about the public, social and personal life scandals coming out in the media and high chances of losing the election. These reasons or ways show that party is not united before the 2016 election, as it had been in the past.

The party being highly factionalized is shown by the fact that all party with its full members was not united and had divided opinion about the selection of the presidential candidate. Though, Mr. Trump got to be nominated by the party, but he was not the best choice and voted by everyone in the party. It shows that there are different factions in the party who likes different candidates to be nominated.