Trump's veepstakes: 5 reasons to pick a running mate, from Nikki Haley to Tucker Carlson

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

56% : Trump tapped Indiana Gov. Mike Pence in 2016 in part because of his standing with white evangelical Christians in the heartland, an important part of the GOP base and one that harbored some reservations about the real-estate developer and reality-TV star from New York.
53% : In 1992, Democrat Bill Clinton chose a running mate not to shore up a weakness but to capitalize on his strengths.
52% : With Donald Trump tightening his grip on the Republican presidential nomination in record time, political speculation is moving on to the next big question.
48% : Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy defined his bid for the nomination by defending Trump.
45% : For now, here are five reasons previous nominees have picked who they did, and what that might signal for Trump this time.
33% : What this could mean for Trump: He could reassure some skeptics about his temperament and his populist views by choosing someone less inflammatory and with stronger ties to the political establishment.
32% : Trump teased Fox News that there was someone "I think I like" but added, "There's no rush to that."
30% : That means a Florida elector couldn't vote for Trump for president and DeSantis for vice president, assuming both still claimed to be Florida residents.Democrat Barack Obama in 2008 picked Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, a generation older and with the sort of long experience in Washington, especially on foreign policy, that the first-term Illinois senator lacked.
28% : Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance are MAGA loyalists who also have appeared with Trump on the stump.
27% : What this could mean for Trump: Trump no long needs help among evangelicals, his standing solidified by his presidential appointments to the Supreme Court that helped overturn abortion rights.
24% : New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, once viewed as a moderate, now echoes Trump by blasting his legal troubles as a "witch hunt" and referring to the Jan. 6 defendants as "hostages."
19% : What this could mean for Trump: A choice of his former UN ambassador and final rival, Nikki Haley, could close wounds from the Republican primaries, though their increasingly heated rhetoric against one another may make that alliance less likely.
16% : The Clinton-Gore ticket won two terms in the White House, but Kerry lost narrowly to George W. Bush.What it could mean to Trump: He could double-down on the MAGA movement that has been his political signature from the start.
15% : There was also that fiery break between Trump and Pence over the assault on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as Electoral College votes were being counted in the re-election race they lost.
8% : Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a rival in the primaries who has endorsed Trump, albeit anemically, would be a more problematic pick.
8% : What this could mean for Trump: With a narrow lead in national polls, Trump doesn't seem to need to take the risks of a long pass.

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