TRUMP'S NUMBERS UP – AT 11:48 A.M. ET:  With the Democratic Party showing serious internal strains, poll numbers for Donald Trump are improving.  From The Hill: 

Donald Trump appears to be making rapid progress in unifying Republican voters behind his presidential bid even as Democratic discord between backers of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders reaches new highs.

An NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll released Tuesday morning showed Trump and Clinton performing at exactly the same level within their respective parties. Each commanded 87 percent support.

The poll also suggested that hopes among Democrats of an easy win over Trump are misplaced. Tuesday’s poll had Clinton with an edge of just 3 points in a hypothetical match-up: The former secretary of State led Trump 48 percent to 45 percent.

The numbers track close to polls near this point in the 2012 presidential election.

A Gallup poll conducted in March 2012, for example, saw President Obama winning the allegiance of the same proportion of Democrats as Clinton is now: 87 percent.

Trump, for his part, may be outperforming Mitt Romney, who took 84 percent support among Republicans in the March 2012 poll.

To be sure, it’s early. Polling numbers at this point in an election cycle can be significantly out of line with the results in November.

But there are warning signs for Clinton, nonetheless.

While Romney, the Bush family and a few GOP officeholders are keeping a distance from Trump, the real estate mogul does not appear to have a huge disadvantage in seeking to unify Republican voters. That means Clinton will need to stoke enthusiasm among all parts of the Democratic base if she becomes the nominee.

COMMENT:  It's going to be a bitter campaign.  Trump, though, is doing something Romney never did – fighting back against a biased press.  That in itself may be a major story in the months ahead, as the usual suspects among journalists line up behind Hillary.

May 18, 2016