As Donald Trump piled up delegates, and even more when it became clear that he would be the Republican nominee, liberals confidently predicted that Trump would lose to Hillary Clinton by a landslide. They ridiculed him as a candidate who would not even equal Mitt Romney’s poor showing.

All this was based on Trump’s high negatives in the polls. It was simply assumed that high negatives guaranteed an embarrassing defeat.

But they overlooked one important point – Hillary Clinton has very high negatives too.

Sunday’s Washington Post poll shows why Trump can win. It’s true that 57% of registered voters have an unfavorable opinion of him, and for 45% it is “strongly unfavorable”. However, Clinton has the same 57% unfavorable and an even higher 46% “strongly unfavorable”.

When registered voters were asked who they would vote for in November, 46% chose Trump and only 44% Clinton.

In fact, 53% of Trump’s supporters said the primary reason for their vote was to oppose Clinton.

Several other recent polls have also shown Trump with a lead and he has moved into a tie in the Real Clear Politics average.

For the Washington establishment – of both parties – this is incomprehensible. Hillary Clinton has taken all the “right” positions. She favors special privileges for Big Business, she favors amnesty for illegal aliens, and she is crusader for abortion. Clinton’s support for gun control is even stronger than her support for putting the law on the side of homosexuals.

Republicans and Democrats in Washington assume that Hillary Clinton is exactly what Americans want – because she is what Washington wants.

But Hillary Clinton has been in the national spotlight for a quarter century now. Americans know how liberal she is, and a majority firmly reject her ideas of where the country ought to go.

Trump’s opportunity is to make it clear that he offers, as his backer Phyllis Schlafly used to say, “a choice, not an echo”. The policy contrast between Trump and Clinton must be clear and undeniable. If he offers a conservative alternative to her liberalism, Americans are ready to say #NeverClinton. If he insists that everything he says is flexible, negotiable, and just a suggestion, disappointed voters will stay home in November.

Please take our Reject Hillary Poll to let us know what you think.