Radio host and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) surrogate Steve Deace blamed Donald Trump’s primary success on “the migration of a herd of messiah-seeking voters from Obama to Trump.”

Deace has supported Cruz for several years and was an outspoken surrogate for Cruz prior to the Iowa Caucus. After Cruz's Iowa victory, Deace began criticizing Trump, continuing to advocate for Cruz despite being upset with his performance. 

Deace’s April 25 Conservative Review article compared 2016 exit polling demographics from several primary states to cherry-picked demographic breakdowns of the 2008 and 2012 general elections. Deace uses the statistics to claim that “Trump is not rallying a 'silent [conservative] majority,'” he is just getting previous supporters of President Obama to vote for him:

Obama beat McCain in all education demographics. But he won those with a high school diploma or less by 17 points, and those with some college, a college degree, or more by only six points.

Conclusion: Even in the Obama blowout of 2008 the more you went to church, and the more education you had, the less likely you were to vote for him. Just like with Trump 2016.

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Trump is not rallying a “silent majority.” Instead, Democrats are losing voters while Republicans are gaining from that loss. So these aren’t new voters, but rather the migration of a herd of messiah-seeking voters from Obama to Trump. The end result will be the banishment of whatever shred of conservatism the GOP still clings to if Trump is the nominee. The irony of this migration is that these voters are doing to the GOP what they complain unchecked immigration has done to America—define down its values while abandoning its traditions. Therefore, a Trump nomination would lead to the same balkanization and splintering of the GOP we’ve seen unchecked immigration cause in the culture at-large. These differences are simply not reconcilable.