Does It Matter Who Donald Trump's Vice Presidential Pick Is?

Former President Donald Trump has said he will announce his vice presidential running mate at the Republican National Convention in July. Speculation continues as to who that person may be. Does it matter, though?

For his part, Trump has said in the past, prior to becoming the presumptive GOP nominee, that it doesn’t much matter whom he selects. “It's never really had that much of an effect on an election,” he said. I’m no expert on elections, but my guess is he might be right, unless you take into consideration the 2008 election. Many held their nose and voted for the late Sen. John McCain because he had Sarah Palin, then governor of Alaska, on the ticket. She connected with people, and they were enthusiastic to cast their vote for her. Trump, however, is a whole lot of a lot, so maybe he’s right in saying it doesn’t matter. One could argue that with the legal woes Democrats have been throwing his way, it may end up mattering.

So who will be the person? He said in January he had already selected his running mate and that he “can’t tell” us who that is. There have been various names bandied about over the course of months, which I’ve discussed here, but that list has reportedly been narrowed quite a bit.