Interesting article. I like the raw quotes without any unnecessary commentary by the author, but like ufmace said I do think some of the prompts may have come across as pushy.<p>I am not a Trump supporter, but I am interested in the ferocity behind his supporters' feelings of (social? economical?) oppression. This quote in particular,<p>>"Over the last few years, the mainstream left has resorted to name-calling and character assassination, instead of debate, any time their positions are questioned. [...] Intelligent debate has become rare."<p>has me scratching my head somewhat because I personally recall the last eight years to be almost the exact opposite. Did the GOP not spend eight years under a 'No Compromise pledge'[1] while targeting Obama as their political punching bag?<p>With regard to the last sentence, was it not Donald Trump himself who devolved the debate to name calling (or 'character assassination', as this respondent might call it)? "Crooked Hillary", "Sleepy [Ben Carson]", "Little Marco", "Lyin' Ted" all come to mind. Or is this what the respondent might consider 'intelligent debate'?<p>Other responses allude to personal security, particularly this one,<p>>"We need borders at every level of our society."<p>and to responses like this I think there's a question of what the term 'conservative' has become in the last eight years. Would 'the party of small government' of the past dared utter this type of sentiment? Or has Obama's presidency (and Trump's campaign) been so damaging to the GOP that their mantra of 'limited government' as defined on their own website[2] has been unexpectedly dissolved.<p>Maybe this individual isn't a part of the GOP. Or maybe the GOP is out of touch. Or maybe I just live in an echo chamber. Either way, I'm going to be interested to see if the GOP evolves to fit Trump's message, or if it anchors itself with over a dozen fragile candidates whose campaigns are destroyed by a two word catchphrase from a reality TV star.<p>Either Trump is the strongest conservative in eight years, or the GOP and Democrats are the weakest they've ever been.[3]<p>1 <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2010/10/28/130895390/house-republicans-vow-no-compromise" rel="nofollow">http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2010/10/28/130895...</a><p>2 <a href="https://www.gop.com/platform/we-the-people/" rel="nofollow">https://www.gop.com/platform/we-the-people/</a><p>3 <a href="http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-end-of-a-republican-party/" rel="nofollow">http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-end-of-a-republican-...</a>