Silent Trump voters: They're everywhere!

I have been traveling a lot across these United States over the past few months, and I have discovered something very interesting about potential presidential voters – and it could be Hillary's biggest nightmare.

From New York down to Georgia and Tennessee, to Florida and then across the Midwest heading back to California, I asked average folks who were definitely planning to vote in the election who they were going to vote for.

Some of them were anxious to answer with either a resounding "Trump – make America great again!" response or "Cruz all the way!" or even a few "Hillary's my girl" and "Feel the Bern!" answers. However, there were many, and I do mean many, who were hesitant to answer but then in a rather conspiratorial voice said, "I can't say it out loud, but I'm voting for Trump." Then they would smile at me and give a thumbs up like we were sharing a forbidden secret.

At first I thought these folks were just out of the mainstream voter bloc, but the more people I asked and the more quiet Trump endorsements I got changed my mind. This wasn't just an outlier, but an actual confirmation that Trump had a greater chance of winning the general election against Hillary than people even imagined.

I was in New York City and happened to see a couple of off-duty NYPD officers getting coffee in Times Square. I smiled and decided that maybe I should ask them their views on the presidential race. I opened with a question about how far it was down to the Freedom Tower and then kind of jumped in with my question. I basically wanted to feel them out to see if they were leaning Democrat or Republican and found out that two of the three were Democrats. The other was an independent.

I made a few jokes about what a "circus" this election had become, and they all agreed with me. Then I said, "So who is your pick for nominee: Bernie or Hillary?" At that point, they glanced at each other, and one of them said, "Neither one. Can't stand her, and Bernie is basically a communist." "So?" I said. "You gonna stay home?" After a pause, he lowered his voice and said, "Nah, I'm going for Trump." The others nodded in agreement and the independent said, "We need somebody to shake this thing up, and he's the only guy that's sayin' what we're thinkin'." I thanked them and said I was heading downtown, and as I turned to go, one of the guys said, "There's a lot of people feel the same way but just don't say it." Interesting.

In Georgia, I was at the gun range in Sandy Springs and was talking to a fellow shooter. He said that he and his wife were both leaning heavily towards Cruz but had finally decided that Trump was the only one who could beat Hillary, so they had moved their allegiance to him. In Florida, I was having lunch at a very high-end restaurant with a couple of friends I have known for over 20 years. They are diehard Democrats and were stalwart Bill Clinton supporters all throughout his presidency. They whispered too that they were not voting for Hillary, but for Trump. In fact, my 86-year-old friend from Fort Lauderdale said that he and his wife were telling everyone that they were going for Hillary because the general impression coming from the media was that all Trump voters are low-educated, low income, "redneck" racist types. He said that he wouldn't dare tell anyone he was voting for Trump, but when the time came, Trump was the guy, and no one ever needed to know.

I kept hearing this same scenario over and over wherever I went. Most of the hesitancy to admit a vote for Trump from the women, the minorities and the upper-middle class I talked to was the fact that they were embarrassed to vocalize their support because they didn't want to be stamped with a negative label. Their solution was to openly pick and speak about another candidate that was "politically correct" according to the media, but then in private they would pull the lever for Trump.

It seems to me that neither party is giving the people what they really want. The Democrats are definitely not enamored with either Hillary or Bernie, and I predict that there will be lower turnout in the general election than they have ever seen. On the other hand, most people on the Republican side are divided between their "like" for Cruz and Trump, (except for the establishment, which hates both of them). When asked, most potential voters would like to split them in half and put them back together, 50 percent Cruz, 50 percent Trump, because that would bring unity to the party and give everyone pretty much what they want.

I think that the Hillary campaign is a lot more worried about Trump getting to the magic 1,237 delegate count than they are letting on. I think that deep down they know that, like I found out, there are many more "silent" Trump voters than the mainstream media will lead you to believe. The Hillary camp is more afraid of Trump because he IS a loose cannon, and his unpredictability will throw them off their game. If it comes down to a Trump vs. Hillary fight, the Democrats could find out that a lot of their Democratic voters peeled off for Trump.

We could very well see a reshaping of the electoral map come fall when it becomes clear that Republicans are more mobilized and Democrats are more disenchanted by their candidates. There could also be a resurgence of the "Reagan Democrats" who "silently" make their choice for who occupies the White House by marking their ballots for Trump.

Media wishing to interview Morgan Brittany, please contact [email protected].