Trump Is Cruising, but Warning Signs Emerge for Him

The good news for Donald Trump is that it's a near certainty he'll win the GOP nomination after clobbering Nikki Haley in her home state of South Carolina by 20 points. But political observers also see some signs of potential trouble for the former president. Coverage:

• Haley got 39% of the vote. That a former president lost the support of that many people in a primary vote "should be a five-alarm fire for the party, but for some reason, it is not," says Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former White House communications director under Trump, per the Hill.
• At the Status Kuo blog, Jay Kuo writes that the "anti-Trump vote within the GOP is an under-told story by the mainstream media." One key question, he adds, is whether GOP voters will fall in line behind Trump once the primaries are over. But as Fox News notes, most Haley voters said they wouldn't vote for Trump if he's the nominee.

• Trump losing 40% won't affect him in the primaries, but the figure raises "serious reasons for concern in a general election," as Politico sees it. The big reason for that: He lost moderate and independent voters in South Carolina by wide margins. (On the bright side for Trump, a "majority of every age demographic" chose him over Haley, the analysis notes.)
• Trump's results in all the primaries so far have been modestly under poll projections, writes Nate Cohn in a New York Times analysis. He floats some theories as to why, including the possibility of a "Hidden Biden Vote, or at least a Hidden Anti-Trump vote" that pollsters aren't picking up. This would be consistent with other polls giving Biden an edge "among the most highly engaged voters," writes Cohn. "This wouldn't mean the polls today are vastly underestimating Mr. Biden, but it could make the difference in a close election."

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