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Conservative group running TV ads calling on Donald Trump to drop out of presidential race

Presidential campaign merchandise.
Steve Carmody
/
Michigan Radio
The 2016 presidential campaign is moving into its final two months.

A conservative group is running ads this week in Michigan and three other states asking Republican Donald Trump to withdraw from the presidential race.

The adfeatures Donald Trump saying he would get out of the race if his poll numbers were bad.  The quotes date back to when Trump was riding high during the Republican primaries.

The ad is running in Michigan, Florida, Ohio and Virginia. Four states considered key to Trump defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton in November.

Polls have shown Clinton leading Trump in all four, though a recent Ohio poll showed the two tied.  

Regina Thomson is with the group Free the Delegates. The group tried and failed to derail Trump’s nomination at the Republican National Convention last month in Cleveland. Thomson is worried Trump has turned off conservatives, which may pave the way for the Republican Party to lose big in November.

“There’s a huge amount of conservatives across this country who are leaving the party, who are either not voting in the presidential race at all or choosing to vote for a candidate in another party,” Thomson says. 

Thomson says the only way to prevent Hillary Clinton from winning in November is for Trump to get out now. She says the party can then pick a replacement, but she admits the window for such a switch is probably less than two weeks.

Not everyone wants Trump to bow out of the presidential race.

Pro-Trump rallies are scheduled today all across Michigan. 

The Republican nominee himself will be in Detroit on Saturday. 

Thomson says if Trump stays on the ballot, she will vote for him because defeating Hillary Clinton is the most important thing.

After the November election, Thomson says her group will shift its focus. She blames Republican leadership for picking a nominee that does not reflect the party’s conservative values.

Steve Carmody has been a reporter for Michigan Public since 2005. Steve previously worked at public radio and television stations in Florida, Oklahoma and Kentucky, and also has extensive experience in commercial broadcasting.
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