♪ ♪ old habits die hard. there may be fewer candidates and yes, maybe one of the nominee is presumptive already and the other one is saumpative at this point, but it's tuesday, good evening and welcome to a special election night edition of "mtp daily." i'm chuck todd in washington. we're going to dive into what tonight's contest reveals not

about the primary results, but the big picture direction of american politics. you want to know why there's so much fear and loathing this election season? well, a key part of that lies in one of tonight's primaries. we're less than two and a half hours from polls closing in west virginia. more on that in a moment. and druonald trump may be the presumptive nominee, but we'll see in voters are ready to unite around him or not. it's nebraska that we're just kind of curious about. is it going to be a small win or a big win. 36 delegates at stake there. democrats are voting there too, but it's a pure beauty contest. bernie sanders won the delegate contest there. it was a caucus in march where they decided those delegates. polls close in nebraska at 9:00 eastern. we're moments away from some exit poll data in those two states. we'll get a quick look at the mood and makeup of those electorates in a few minutes and

it's at a time when there are unanswered questions about the state of each party heading into november. what's happening in coal country in west virginia politics, is a story of american politics. hillary clinton and barack obama are generally not popular in coal country. if you live in a state like west virginia, you probably don't know many folks who do like them. but it didn't used to be like this. in 1996, democrats dominated the state. clinton beat dole by roughly 15 points. but the older, more rural, white demographic has evaporated. romney won the state by 27 points. in the 2012 democratic primary, a felon serving a 17-year sentence, got 41% of the vote against obama in the democratic primary. "the washington post" summed it up this way. simply put, west virginia does not like obama. in some ways, what's happening in west virginia is what's happening across the country. our divisions are accelerating along regional and cultural

lines. democrats are concentrating in big cities and urban suburbs. republicans are a scarcity among big city mayors. but republicans tend to live in rural america, in the faith-driven regions of this country. it means that fewer and fewer folks live or work in bipartisan atmospheres. they'll even marry along partisan lines in some cases. according to one poll, only 8% of the country would be unhappy if a member of their family married a democrat, and 9% would be unhappy if a member of their family brought home a republican. you can see it in the decline of the swing district. there are 435 congressional districts in the country. just 23 of them are rated as toss-ups by the political report this year. in 2012, there were just 26 split districts. 17 districts that leak elected a republican in congress and voted for obama, and nine elected a

democrat to congress and voted for romney. for comparison, you only had to go back to 2008 to see that number quadruple. there were 83 split districts in 2008. and frankly, if you went to the '90s, that stuff went into the hundreds. look what's happening to the primary electorates in 2016. democratic primary electorate was evenly split with liberals and moderates. there was ideological diversity in the party. now we're seeing a democratic electorate is overwhelmingly self-described liberal. for republicans, more so over that same time period. 2008, 63% described themselves as conservative. that number is up to 76% across the states that have voted so far in 2016. bottom line, tonight's west virginia primary maybe is a canary in the coal country coal mine. when electorates are confined to these kinds of bubbles, it means they will be shocked if their candidate loses in november. we saw it on the republican side

in 2012. the romney camp was adamant the polls were wrong. a campaign aide said later that it justified logic that obama would turn out the coalition he did. they couldn't believe it. and there's a reason for it. republicans, they don't believe -- they don't see a lot of democrats, so they have -- it's confirmation bias. ditto for democrats. it was a huge problem for democrats in the '70s. they never knew anybody that was voting for nixon. a lot of people did vote for nixon in '72. all is not well when he look at parts of the republican bubble that some fear could burst with trump at the top of the ticket. marco rubio delivered an address in washington today, telling the crowd, that his reservations about trump's candidacy remain. >> as i said before, you know, my policy differences and reservations about donald's campaign are well established.

i've said them often and i stand by those. people know where i stand, they know how i feel, they know what our differences are. he's the nominee of the republican party, or the presumptive nominee, via the voters, i respect that and accept it. but that's not going to change the reservations i have about his campaign or about some of the policies that he's established. >> and just in the last hour or so, house speaker paul ryan previewed his meeting with trump later this week, by forecasting a long road ahead to unify the party around trump. >> we shouldn't just pretend that our party is unified when we know it's not. it's been one week since the primary effectively ended. it was a very, very bitter, divisive primary. it's going to take more than a week just to repair and unify this party. if we just pretend we're unified, without unifying, we'll be at half strength and the fall and that won't go well for us. >> that's a little bit of a tell from speaker ryan. don't expect that no matter how

well the meeting goes with trump later in the week, do not expect a ryan endorsement this week, period. also today, ted cruz spoke to glenn beck's radio show, prompting this headline about cruz potentially restarting his campaign. if by some miracle he wins nebraska tonight. well, moments ago, cruz made his return to capitol hill, where he commented on that wild scenario. take a listen. >> this election cycle should be a wake-up call to washington, d.c. the frustration, the volcanic anger with washington was echoed throughout this election. there are 2 1/2 months until the convention, six months until the general election. there will be plenty of time for voters to make the determination who they're going to support. >> cruz also ruled out running a third-party challenge against trump. it would be impossible for him because of the loser laws, by the way. cruz was also asked if he would

support trump. he gave a fiery answer about washington, but as he's done many times with me and others, he declined to endorse trump. anyway, let's go to hallie jackson, covering all this action from capitol hill today. so, hallie, cruz is back, and what struck me, on one hand he was saying he's out of the race. >> reporter: yes. >> they're not campaigning anymore. but he continues to flirt with this idea that, well, stranger things have happened and who knows. >> reporter: sure. because look at it from the perspective of somebody who has devoted the last 13 months of their life to trying to run for president. you don't want to shut the door all the way. so what you heard cruz say today, well, if things were to change, if, is circumstances were to change, if there were a viable path to the nomination, then, you know, stranger things could happen, you never know what may happen. so for united states kr, tough to shot the door all the way. although he made it clear he was

not interested in a third-party run. and again, refusing to say whether he will endorse trump as the nominee, ultimately it's a question you and i have asked him and we didn't hear a definitive answer from ted cruz today. >> no, that's for sure. what do we know about them ever getting together? that was another question i heard a bunch of reporters yell out, he seemed to not answer. >> reporter: not answer. as far as we know, there has not been interaction between trump and cruz over the last week. that may change. for trump, it would behoove him to reach out to trump, given that cruz has the support of a number of grass root conservative activists. so if trump wants to unite the party, it would be a bad overture to make. we'll see how it goes on thursday. >> donald trump showing up at ted cruz's office, makes a lot of sense to me at some point on thursday. >> we'll be there. republicans did get a dose

of good news out of battleground florida. a new poll claims to have clinton and trump in a dead heat. we should note the quinnipiac sample was a little odd. they claim that the electorate will be whiter than it was in 2012. they claim it to be 69% white electorate, which would be two points higher than the 2012 sample. but for comparison, our recent "wall street journal"/nbc maris poll had clinton up eight. and our demographic split was more in line with what we think 2016 is gonna be. that quinnipiac poll also doesn't square with another poll out today in miami-dade, where clinton leads trump by 27 points. that poll was conducted by a democratic polling firm. carlos has said he will not

support trump under any circumstance. welcome to the show, congressman. >> good to be with you. >> you've said you're not going to support trump. you represent a swing district, it's tightly contested, gone back and forth a few times. is there anything donald trump can do to change your mind? >> look, i'm going to watch the debate. i'm not going to tune out of this election, it's too important, chuck, to not pay attention. but think that neither of these candidates on the republican or democratic side can bring this country together. it's a great irony. the american people are frustrated because nothing gets done in d.c., because there's so much bickering, so many personal attacks, and now it looks like we're going to have two candidates that majorities of americans reject, don't trust and aren't going to bring people together in washington to compromise and get things done for the american people. so that's why i've taken the position i've taken. >> well, you know, i guess when you say compromise, one thing trump's done over the last week, he's made it clear he does want

a lot of congressional involvement. you can look at what trump has said about his tax plan, you can look at what trump has said frankly that he's rumored to have said to the "new york times" about his immigration plan, is that he acknowledges once it's in the hands of congress, that he's got to be open to deal-making. does that at all give you hope that you can work with him? >> well, i think this meeting with speaker ryan is very important. by the way, i commend the speaker. some people have said that he should have quietly fallen in line, but that's not what leaders do. leaders discern, leaders try to get to the truth and try to really create a situation where they can inspire trust and confidence. so what the speaker is trying to do is ascertain who is donald trump, what does he stand for, what's his agenda and his vision for the future of the country. so i think this meeting might actually produce something worthwhile, worth paying attention to. chuck, we have a lot of respected conservatives, people like george will, like bill

crystal, like glenn beck, who wonder out loud, if there are two new york liberals at the top of the ticket in november, and i think speaker ryan, he obviously has some real concerns. i commend him for having the courage to say, no, i'm not going to fall in line. i'm going to do what's right for this institution, the house, for the american people and try to really figure out what the differences are between secretary clinton and mr. trump. >> do you feel obligated at all to listen to the voters? >> oh, i respect the will of the voters, chuck. i'm not out there trying to convince anyone of absolutely anything. i'm just honest with the voters. i've watched this campaign. i know what we need here in washington, d.c. it's broken. it's true. i see it every day. and i'm just not confident that either of these candidates can fix this. secretary clinton was asked at the beginning of her campaign, i think at a debate, who her enemy is, and she said republicans.

mr. trump has used incendiary language, offended all sorts of people. i'm sorry if i'm skeptical that either of these people can bring the country together. >> would you like to see a third alternative? >> it's possible. look, this year has been unpredictable. we've already seen a lot of things that no one has expected. there are some people out there talking about running. hey, i'm 36, this is the first election where i'm actually age eligible, maybe i'll run, i have no idea. obviously that's a joke. >> there you go. we'll put it out there. >> but it's an unpredictable year. there's a long time left before the election. of course i'm willing to listen to the candidates and pay attention. but i'm just not very hopeful right now that either of them can give this country what this country needs and deserves. >> congressman from south florida, big chunk of his district is in miami-dade, where we showed you the interesting numbers today, thanks for coming on the show. joined now by barry bennett, senior adviser to the trump campaign. welcome. >> thanks for having me back.

>> rubio, cruz, ryan. there's a lot of ways to look at this and their uneasiness with your candidate, donald trump. some of it may be generational. it does seem as if older republicans who have been around the block are more comfortable saying, hey, the party, the voters spoke. younger conservatives are going, wait a minute, we were part of a movement, he doesn't fit it. what is your take on how all this is breaking out and why it's been such a challenge? >> well, we're seven days past the primary, so it's not a light switch. it's a process. it's going to take some time. and especially i would never even ask ted cruz for his endorsement this early. he's got a lot of healing and sleeping to do. he ran an amazing campaign. but, you know, this is -- donald trump's coalition, his movement, is different. and some of these guys have a hard time understanding it. >> what did you miss?

>> i remember first time i saw you this cycle, you were working for ben carson and you were one of many campaigns to said, you know, this trump thing is gonna, these voters, as soon as they learn more about him, they'll start picking other candidates. >> absolutely. it's all big ten. there's this ad with all these horrible things about donald trump. it's all baked in. what people are -- what they want is someone who will go to washington and turn the place upside down. what they want, there are so many people hurting. so many people who feel they're not being listened to, who feel they've been lied to by washington. and it's an incredible movement. it's a big movement. and we're winning in ohio. i've seen two polls where we're up five in ohio. >> do you feel that this is a case where the voters almost don't care -- they know every bad thing. so no matter what clinton says about trump or what other people say about trump, they know that already? and that at the end of the day,

they just are looking for somebody to burn this place down? are they looking for san arsonist, a political arsonist? >> a bulldozer driver, for sure. hillary clinton is not an alternative to, oh, don't you just love her manners? whoa. she's a 25-year enkincumbent, t don't love her either. they want someone to go to washington and fix this thing. >> how do you walk this line with trump, you need the party apparatus. >> yeah. >> you can't have them constantly saying they don't want you, because it means something financially. at the same time, you don't want to look like you've gone washington. there are obama campaign veterans who say, there was this moment where they got caught going washington and it was a tough moment for them to get out and took them a couple years to get out of it. when you're an outsider and you get caught going to washington, there's a price to pay. >> unity is not unity. there will be some people who

will hang out and be anti-trump. that's probably not a bad thing for us, because he's not going to represent k street and the power class in washington. that's just not who he is. >> is there a moment where you ask paul ryan not to be involved in the convention if he can't endorse? >> i think that's a decision he needs to make. >> donald trump or paul ryan? >> paul ryan. if he can't endorse the nominee, how is he going to stand there with the gavel? >> it becomes inappropriate. he probably knows this. >> he's one of the smartest guys in washington. he gets it. >> barry bennett, we'll see. are you worried about any of the results tonight? >> not at all. going to be a good night. >> well, when you get to run against yourself, you would hope you will be able -- >> we should cross 1,100 almost there. >> barry, thanks for coming in. paul manafort will be joining chris matthews tonight during a special two-hour edition of "hardball." it starts at 6:00 eastern. coming up, we'll have our first look at the exit polls.

who showed up to the polls today? that's what we're curious about. will turn-out be high or ultra low, now that they think this race is over? we'll have our boy, steve kornacki, join me in a few minutes to break down the numbers. and later, bridging the gender gap, you may be surprised to hear how some republican women really feel about trump as their nominee. stay tuned.

first primary night since the republicans got a presumptive nominee. coming up, we'll have the first exit polling data with republicans who know who they're facing and who know who's going to represent them. many republicans say they'd -- you're watching "mtp daily" and we'll be right back.

we have primaries today in west

virginia and nebraska, which means we have our first round of nbc exit polls at this hour. let's go to the big board at 30 rock with mr. kornacki. steve, this is a unique set of exit polls because it's sort of exit polling done where it feels like people are voting even though we know what the results are going to be. >> we have exit polling, with one official candidate, but one thing, there are signs the disunity on the republican side. anything worth seeing? take a look. nebraska, asking all republicans if trump's the nominee, how are you going to vote in the fall? nearly 80% say they'll support trump. 15% say neither. in west virginia, nearly 90% of republicans there saying they'd vote for him. the interesting thing, though -- >> let me pause you real quick. anti-trump voters probably wouldn't show up today. >> right. and here's the other one.

when we flip to the democratic side, how many democrats in west virginia? we talk about a state that's been moving in the republican direction. how many residual democrats are there voting in today's primary who are otherwise republicans? here's an interesting indication of that. we asked democrats in west virginia if this fall the choice is -- if you're a clinton voter and you gotta choose between clinton and trump, most clinton's voters say they'll vote for her. but sanders voters in the democratic primary were asked if the choice is sanders and trump, nearly 40% of the people voting for sanders in the primary today say they're going to turn around and support trump in the fall. so two ways to read that. one, are they democrats who are trapped in the democratic primary, who just don't like hillary. so one vote against her here and one for trump in the fall. or another possibility, are these independents who support trump who are coming in just to vote against hillary? just to have fun in the democratic primary.

so that's one thing we're seeing here. >> both of your hypothesis make a lot of sense. and given west virginia's more recent history, i think we know where that state's going to be in november. if we want to call it now. should we put it on the board right now there? >> i think it will be leaning republican. how's that? >> okay, we'll make it leaning red. steve, won't be a late night, but still a busy night later this evening. thank you, sir. >> all right. now let's turn to one of my favorite people to talk to, craig shirley. a little more context on this race. ford/reagan was a lot easier to heal the party. >> yes and no. there were a lot of republicans in '76 who said they weren't going to vote for ford after reagan lost the nomination. >> do you think that was real? >> i think it amounted melt the fall. >> i'm with you, i think most --

we're already seeing it. voters have consolidated before the leadership have. donors seem like they're the last on board. some of these, maybe e-- i went through this with barry. if there's one thing i've noticed, a generational divide in the republican party. the younger conservatives who came up believing they were leading a movement and basically competing with each other to see who was going to lead this movement -- >> and they still might. >> they still might. they got thumped by trump, older generation. but what's also interesting, when you see republicans, elected officials over 60, are the first ones to say, we'll be with the nominee. it's the younger republicans that are more hesitant. >> i think it's because of the older people have more of a stake in the system. the older you become, the more you own property, you pay -- >> like orrin hatch. he's the same time of conservative in many ways as a ted cruz or rubio. >> yes.

i remember in '78, he was revolutionary for the conser conservaticonserv conservative -- >> that's right. he's said all his life, i'm going to support the republican nominee, this is what i do. >> the older you become, the more stability you like. i think that's true for republicans and democrats. >> if you're trump on thursday, i think we know what trump should do. the question is whether he's capable of it. a little magnanimous. how much should he be this way? how much does he need washington? >> we know from history that divided conventions lose in the fall and united conventions win in the fall. >> period? >> the last 50 years, republicans were divided in '64, '76, '92, they lose in the fall. same for democrats. but it was reagan and great economy and all that.

but it still follows the allegory. so what he needs to do is, if you follow the old model which i'm not sure applies anymore, he still needs a unified party. on the other hand, he can go too far. nixon in 1960 went to new york to kiss the ring of the prince of new york, nelson rockefeller on the compact of fifth avenue, nixon sold out so many things and that hurt him in a way, made him look weaker. so trump has to do this, in a way that doesn't make him look weaker, being magnanimous, but without undercutting his authority. >> what's your running mate take, the smartest idea for trump? i don't know who will skept acc, but for trump, the best possible person? >> you would say, again to my point about united conventions, you reach out. so the liberal john kennedy

takes the conservative lyndon johnson. ronald reagan takes george bush. >> that's an old model. >> not sure that applies anymore. might be pressure to pick tan establishment candidate and it might not help him. maybe better to pick somebody like him. >> more an outsider. >> exactly. >> that's what i think too. double down on what's got you there. >> i think the republican party today resembles animal house. you have the omegas and deltas. and donald trump leads the deltas and mitt romney and the establishment lead the omegas. >> belushi and trump. >> i think it's more like otter. >> fair enough. craig shirley with that little visual there, i appreciate it. thanks for coming in. >> you bet. still ahead, can donald trump win with republican women? our own kasie hunt sits down with a group of women voters who offer some very candid insight on mr. trump. plus, senator barbara boxer joins me right here in studio.

stay tuned.

still ahead on our special primary night edition of "mtp daily," republican women open up about donald trump. can hillary clinton convince some of them to fully jump ship? meanwhile, i'll speak to clinton supporter and california senator barbara boxer, she joins me live in studio for that discussion. but first, the cnbc market wrap. >> thanks, chuck. stocks rallying across the board. the dow soaring by 222 points. s&p up by 25. nasdaq adding 59 points. rising crude prices helped. oil finished up 3% on worries about supply disruptions in canada. job openings posted their biggest gain in eight months. open positions jumped by 2.7%. the most since september, to 5.76 million in march. however, actual hiring slowed down. and disney is out with earnings

that missed expectations. shares are lower in after-hours trading. that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide.

♪ welcome back, it is tuesday, it's a primary night. so old habits die hard. we'll have full coverage, extensive kochblg of wisconsin -- excuse me -- west virginia and nebraska. but we also have a lot of bigger picture items to tackle tonight, including the general election. brand-new poll numbers, hillary clinton holding just a five-point lead over donald trump. no big surprise, there's a big gender gap. clinton has a 19-point edge among women. donald trump carries men by an

11-point margin. kasie hunt sat down with a focus group of sorts in falls church, virginia to gauge how some republican women see donald trump. here's a taste of it. >> reporter: so do you think that donald trump would act differently, behave differently as president than he has in the presidential primary campaign? >> i do. i think he will become very serious. i mean, he has run an empire. you know, a billion dollar empire. you can't get to that point without being pretty darn organized and smart. i don't think that he does not like women. i mean, he's got so many women in his organization. >> he treats everyone badly, i think. it doesn't matter who you are. >> across the board. [ laughter ] >> i'm so sorry, but i need to pick up on that. you know, donald trump, i don't -- this man is not silly. it takes a very serious individual to have accomplished what he has in this country, and

particularly in new york city. it's not an american thing. >> that's fair, but that message did not resonate for mitt romney either. didn't get him very well. >> because he got annihilaihila that campaign by the democrats. it was a machine. and he did not stand up. see, trump is actually standing up to some of this. he did not. he just let them bury him. and i think that's what cost the campaign. >> he needs to run with a little bit more class. >> the moderator of that group joins me now, kasie hunt. what strikes me in hearing that one woman's answer about trump, once he gets in there, he's going to act differently, which trump himself keeps saying and two, that's a belief i hear even among those that don't like trump. well, whatever it is, he's flexible. >> i think that's true to a certain extent. i think this is the question right now that the trump campaign is most interested in learning the answer to. do people actually believe that

his behavior can change? and i will say, the two people that we just saw who were talking about trump and his business experience, yes, they came into that room as trump supporters. and to a certain extent, i toss that conversation to the middle of the table and what you saw was five people who were republican, all of whom supported mitt romney who basically went after it, almost arguing more with each other than with me. >> did i detect a generational divide there? >> there was a significant generational divide. >> the older women were more inclined to accept trump. the younger women, not so much. >> the younger women had many reservations about it. they were willing to engage with the trump attacks on the clintons, trump calling hillary clinton an enabler. the older women remembered more of the '90s and were more concerned about this idea of bill clinton being in the white house. the younger women said this is about someone who had an affair, it should not be reflected on the woman involved in the marriage. >> all right, kasie hunt, do a

lot more of those, because i think they'll be fascinating as we move along. >> senator barbara boxer joins me in 90 seconds. don't move.

there are real differences between what i believe, what we believe, and what the presumptive republican nominee believes. i think with somebody like donald trump, you would see a race to the bottom across our

country. with working families paying the price. and i don't think that's a risk we can afford. so we have to reject that vision. >> that was hillary clinton at a campaign stop in kentucky. that was just about an hour ago. kentucky votes later in the month, by the way. obviously she was focused on donald trump there. joining me now on set, a clinton supporter and retiring california senator barbara boxer. >> hi. >> how are you? >> good. >> i got to ask you, this campaign has been unique, odd. do you have any regrets about retiring? >> oh, because i'm not retiring. i'm just not going to be a senator anymore. >> fair enough. >> some people think, the way your schedule is. >> well, there is some proof of that. the average age is going down. but no i have no intention of retiring, just going to do my work from outside. just imagine me unleashed, unsensored, untethered. it's going to be great. >> that will be fun.

this issue of whether did you -- i don't know how much you saw of that focus group of republican women, there was a little bit of a generational divide. and i hear this from other voters too, which is the assumption that he's going to be flexible and i think tom freedman wrote about it, the frustration of gridlock has made people say, trump's crass and all these things, but we need to get unstuck. if this is what it takes, then it's worth it. what do you say to them? >> who is he going to put on the supreme court? when a man says wages are too high, is this the person you want to trust when we know we have such terrible income inequality? >> the next week he says he think the minimum wage is too low and shown a willingness to raise it. >> that's someone without a center. there's a difference between

someone whose flexible and some without a center. i believe it's important, before you knew that you were going to run for president, who were you really like? what did you do? what did you say? what this man has said about women, going after women. he just went after elizabeth warren. put hillary clinton aside, the things he said about her. but he's gone after people -- women who have made it to the top. women like gayle collins, your own wonderful reporter here who covers his beat, he took on. angelina jolie. he said bad things about barbara walters. so if i could just speak as a woman for a minute here -- >> i assume you do that all the time. >> well, yeah, but in other words, i'm giving the perspective of a woman rather than just of a politician and someone who's been in elected life for 40 years. just as a woman here, not as a politician. when a man goes after women who, through the toughest times have made it to the top of their

field, whether it's journalism or television, or politics, you name it, even heidi cruz, who is ted cruz's wife, who he bitterly insult insult insulted, who is a woman in her own right with a career. what does that say to the other women who haven't made it to the very top? it says, you know what, forget it. we'll destroy your role models, you're not important, you can't do it. it hits in the core, right here. >> i am concerned that we're -- no matter what happens, we'll be more bitterly divided at the end of this election, because however this campaign plays out, it will be divisive. it does seem as if he's running a gender-based campaign in the opposite way, with him saying men can't even talk to women anymore. what is your concern? what should hillary clinton's message to men be, i guess is a better way of -- like, how should she campaign to do better with men? >> i have a theory and i've heard her say this.

all men have moms. we know that. and most men love their moms. and they love their sisters, and they love their daughters. and i believe, as we get to this election, we're going to choose someone who unifies us. and i want to talk to your point about bitterly divided. it really hurts when you see what we've seen on the trail here and the yelling and even some violence. but i think at the end of the day, what people want, women in particular, but i think women and men want, a president who's going to bring us together, okay, not divide us one against the other. a prison. and those who will lift us up, not just those at the top, or some select gender, but all of us. at the end of the day, i think what you're going to see is hillary clinton doing just that and donald trump ripping people apart and, you know, this deportation, the mean, the whole idea of it is unbelievable to me, breaking up families, you

know, separating moms from their kids. this is mean-spirited. >> i'm just curious, any personal interaction with trump? >> i never have, but i've been tweeting about him for quite a while now. >> watch out when you start tweeting about him. he may tweet you back. >> you know what? fine. >> thanks for coming in. nice to see you. >> okay. coming up, we'll talk the lid and more about tonight's contest right after this. stay tuned.

. stay with msnbc all night. we'll have full coverage of tonight's primaries in west virginia and nebraska.

chris matthews will host a special two hour edition of hardball after this. that's at 6:00 p.m. eastern. we'll have the up to the minute results as polls closing. chris hayes has a special live edition of "all in" at 11:00 p.m. as well. everybody will be on tonight and then some. be right back.

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answering the question once and for all, who has the lowest. just go to compare.com and get up to 50 free quotes. choose the lowest, and hit purchase. so you can get back to whatever it is you civilians do when you're not thinking about car insurance. compare.com ♪ no, you're not ♪ yogonna watch it! ♪tch it! ♪ ♪ we can't let you download on the goooooo! ♪ ♪ you'll just have to miss it! ♪ yeah, you'll just have to miss it! ♪ ♪ we can't let you download... uh, no thanks. i have x1 from xfinity so... don't fall for directv. xfinity lets you download your shows from anywhere. i used to like that song. trump has brought the internet troll to the campaign. now, there's a negative

connotation to internet trolls, but at the same time this is becoming mainstream. this is the kind of stuff that people say every day, everywhere on the internet multiple times a day, and nothing happens to them. >> time for the lid. sarah, i think limbaugh is right. trump has based mainstreamed the language of the internet. he called it trolls. he's right. it's negative. >> his point was nothing happens to them. the difference is those folks aren't running to be the leader of the free world. >> things happen to them.

i block them or they're deleted. >> there's no doubt a cheapening of political discourse in this country across the board. donald trump is getting away with things that would be career ending for most politicians without a doubt. twice in the last week he's done it. >> that's trump's trick. allowering the bar. >> it's too his advantage. it's to the advantage of looking like you're not a politician. you're not politically correct. you're independent and strong. even when he says outrageous things and back down when they are incorrect, i think that increases the sense here is a guy that can come in and shake things up in a system we're sick of. >> there's going to be such buyer's remorse if he doesn't change course in the way he approaches the campaign. i think there will be huge buyer remorse. >> fred, what do you fear as a democrat for trump? >> a lot of things.

>> she's changed. she's not. she's not going to be able to get the change back. what else? >> i think the unpredictability of his candidacy. he is not only rewrieting the rules, he's making them up. we're political professionals, not that we like everything to be logical and simpbl, he's going to inject an element of unpredi unpredictability. he's all those things. he's attempting to do a lot of things. we see the things they want to get done. can he be seen as that person? >> that's the most dangerous thing to hillary clinton is, i go back to something. there is a trump's voters want deals. sdpll they wa >> they want deals. >> this is his strength. people believe he will get a deal done.

he has a track record according to him of being a very successful deal maker. that's part of his brand. i do think the democrats are afraid of running against him and with good reason. he draws outside the lines. it's impossible to predict how he will maneuver in these deb e debates and anything else. >> none of the republicans were able to respond in a way that was effective and compelling. the question is hillary clinton who has many skills and a great depth, will she be nimble? >> nimble has never been a word used to describe hillary clinton. >> his disadvantage is he will be this much closer to the oval office. do you want him to be the last person on the island with you? >> some voters say you get buyer's remorse. some say the fact that he's close is enough shake up.

maybe some voters say this will get everybody to take notice. >> many voters will acknowledge in support of him how many lunacy they think is to his candidacy. >> you and your political unit put out an electoral college map. it shows hillary clinton needing to pick up one swing state to be elected. there's no room for error on the trump candidacy. we have seen a lot of errors so far. >> that's true. hillary clinton starts with a big advantage. you can't deny that. she has a much easier path. it's not to say he has no path. >> his most important moment will be the minute he steps on stage with her. it will be one of those moments he wins that debate no matter what he says. >> we'll find out. it will be the real test.

>> we'll find out what he really thinks of women when he walks on that stage. >> thank you. watch tonight. special two hour edition of "hardball." . make room for donald. let's play hardball. good evening. i'm chris matthews. voters are going to the polls in west virginia. this is the state in may of 2008, hillary clinton scored major win over barack obama. eight years later it's looking like sanders territory. bernie sanders territory. polls close in 90 minutes in west virginia at 7:30 eastern time.