Regardless of how you feel about Donald Trump, the controversial and unorthodox blonde haired tycoon whose campaign has evolved from what once many considered a joke bid for the seat of the presidency into the leading Republican candidate, odds are you know exactly who he is, and that is no accident.

It is an undeniable fact that Mr. Trump has been a part of one of the most efficient political campaigns in recent memory having spent only $34 million of his own money and 2 million from outside donations according to opensecrets.org. That figure represents 3 times less than the just shy of $120 million total spent by the runner up Ted Cruz and more than 4 times less than what was tragically spent by Jeb Bush, who dropped out of the running due to abysmal poll numbers. So just what is it that had Trump winning 10 states on Super Tuesday last month, as opposed to Cruz’s 3, despite being on such a comparatively tight budget?

The answer of why so many people showed their support for him in the primaries is varied, but comes down to a couple simple core reasons. First, his notoriety from having some of the most outrageous and controversial sound bites among those running for the next presidential term has, in reality, been one of his greatest assets. The unending media attention that has been given freely and plentifully spread his name, face, and ideals much further and faster than he ever could conceivably on his own. And they reached the right people: the extreme right in nearly every state, the demographic most likely to cast a vote in a primary election and give Trump the numbers that has even his own party baffled.

Secondly, his use of social media to reach the younger generation of Americans has been on a scale unparalleled to any before him. If the near endless loop of media play wasn’t enough to reach the masses, then his nonstop stream of tweets on Twitter, one of the world’s largest social media platforms, is. And unlike creating expensive attack ads depicting revelation-esque endtimes, email campaigns, and nice looking pamphlets with American Flag backgrounds and a glossy sheen, tweeting is totally and absolutely free, and he takes full advantage of that fact. He tweets so often and in such an unfiltered manner that the New York Times was able to compile a list of 210 insults of his lobbed at a vast number of candidates, individuals, and organizations. His presence on this platform has been so dominating, in fact, that numerous initiatives have been started with the sole intent to discredit him, some examples being #nevertrump and the humorous #makedonalddrumpfagain.

Donald Trump, however, due to the sheer speed and comprehensiveness at which he was able to cast his net over the far right, is in a bizarre and unique situation: nearly any criticism lobbed at him can be used to further fuel the narrative that the liberal left is trying to take him down just to keep an outsider from winning, only tightening his iron grasp on a demographic that has been so far showing a nearly 100% primary election turnout. Any attack on his person, any at all, has been shown to be for him just another tool for the furthering of his campaign’s aspirations in an impossible, even if often accidental, act of political maneuvering and manipulation of press coverage that would have Machiavelli steaming with jealousy. Even with the events of the last week involving Trump’s campaign manager being charged with assault, Trump’s remark that if abortion were to be outlawed, women seeking them would need to be punished, and a loss to Ted Cruz in the Wisconsin primary, he still is projected to have a clear lead at securing the Republican nomination with 743 delegates currently compared to Cruz’s 512 and Kasich’s 143.

Further illustrating Trump’s foothold, in a recent poll out from RasmussenReports.com, the Republican voters surveyed expressed around an 80% confidence that Trump will receive his party’s nomination for the upcoming presidential race. Additionally, some who once were casting their ballots for Bernie Sanders due to his more outsider approach to politics show, according to many surveys, appear to be considering casting their ballot in favor of Trump over Hillary were she to win the Democratic nomination on account of Trump’s similar outsider status. This brings us to our final reason why Trump is able to stand on stage and speak on the state of his genitals yet still retain a comfortable lead: voter frustration.

According to the Pew Research Center, the percent of Americans who trust in the government hovers around 20%, which, while not an all time low, continues a general downward trend. Most of the time, this manifests as a lack of voting entirely; however, with Trump it’s different. Many who would normally abstain from the vote for lack of a candidate they feel isn’t just part of the political machine are being swayed by the presence of this bizarre real estate mogul without attachment or pressure from either party in reality. He has reiterated time and time again that he is not being influenced by outside organizations and wills other than his own through his ability to fund himself, yet unlike all the wild claims about his ability and what he plans to do in office, this is a solid fact based in reality and is showing to be a force of powerful attraction, especially to those distrustful of the political sphere. With Hillary Clinton, however, those in her support group who were not planning on voting for her before, often in the case of young people, are showing no signs of of changing their mind.

Voting is a powerful manifestation of your ability to have a voice on the course of the history of our nation’s leadership, and if you choose not to exercise this right you can be sure that others who feel more strongly and are more dedicated to a candidate will do so for you, and this election cycle has yielded an exceptional amount of strongly patriotically minded people who have been reached out to by Donald Trump in a manner like no one before him. If you disagree with the future America that these people want, then you will need to speak up and do so loudly, and there are few stronger methods of speaking than by casting a ballot.

Creative Commons photo source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/8566728595