Trump's path to victory: Both parties' working-class whites

DENVER (AP) — Should he win the Republican nomination, Donald Trump's most plausible path to victory in the general election would be a GOP map unlike any in years.

To make that work he'd have to thread a narrow needle — not only holding on to those core supporters but also softening rhetoric that has alienated black and Latino voters and calming those in the GOP who vow to never vote for him.

Trump has dominated a majority of Republican primaries by combining his celebrity and can-do demeanor with a message that once was off-limits in both parties — a full-throated demand to restrict both trade and immigration.

[...] Trump may best appeal to the Rust Belt, from Pennsylvania through Wisconsin, an area that's been a bedrock of Democratic presidential victories but is reeling from job losses and still struggling to recover from the recession.

[...] Trump would have to bridge divides with Republicans who say they won't vote for him because of what they see as his demagoguery, breaks from conservative thinking and his personal conduct.

Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster, said Democrats will have to use ads to blunt Trump's apparent strength with economically disaffected voters.