NEWS 28 - Thomas Cooke is two states away from either loosing or winning the 2024 Presidential Election. But recent data shows that Jay Laylin will overwhelmingly win both Le Mont's and Porter's Vote Bank Points, and inevitably the entire election. But why is someone who was so widely hailed as the next President three years ago, now praying on a miracle to win this election. What caused his falling trajectory to the Nationalist House, and why is his influence weakening?

These three things are likely to be his undoing and his failure to become the next President of the country, because for one thing, Jay Laylin had performed better in all the debates, his town hall and at rallies. On top of that, several hundred Nationalists reported that they would vote for Jay Laylin during the 2024 Presidential Election.

On Policy, Thomas Cooke fell short of every mark as Governor Of New Shire, the office he held from 2021 until 2024. Many voters in New Shire, while he won that state, felt as though he would destroy the Jesstopian economy on a much larger scale, and chose to vote for Laylin. Laylin has offered much more than Thomas Cooke on the economy, surging gas prices, grocery prices and a unaffordable housing market, that stems from the centuries long control of the Nationalist House by the Nationalist Party. In a statement earlier in 2023, then-Senator and Senate Minority Leader Jay Laylin said that "the Nationalist Party doesn't care about doing much to address the crippling inflation because you as party aren't being power challenged. For the last 200 years, you all have been in control of the Nationalist House. You weren't pressured into doing anything because your offices would still be voted for. If there was some sort of pressure on you all, I think many of these issues would be addressed relatively quickly."

As a Senator, he advocated for reducing Government spending, with many of his fellow Republicans scoffing at the idea. But he had a point, which is what is going to likely help him win this election. Getting back to Thomas Cooke, he hasn't expressly stated what he would do to try and curb reckless government spending nor did he make a plan of action to lower grocery, gas and drug costs. That lack of care will likely cost him this election.

On Prolonged exposure, his constant presence, allowed many voters to see the "real Thomas Cooke." Many Republicans have called and continue to call him incompetent. He never really had to show his true colors when he was Governor because he had a team of people to cover up his incompetence. As the famous saying goes "absence makes the heart grow fonder." The less people saw Cooke when he was Governor the more he stayed out of public spotlight, he seemed more competent and a better leader, but when he was forced to be in the public to run for President, people began waking up and seeing that he is running on a literal empty campaign.

The third and final point of why Thomas Cooke is falling short of a landslide victory, and victory at all, is due to the largest Republican voter turn out in the history of our country's history. Over 58.7 million Republicans turned out to vote, with about 29% of those being young adults and teenagers able to vote. An election has never seen this scale of voting in the history. 30.9 million voters were Nationalists and about 12% of the focus group voted Republican, according to the EpicVote official data center. So the more Republicans you have in this country, the better the outcome will be for the Republican candidate. But in terms of the larger Republican turn out, support from Nationalists who began losing confidence in Thomas Cooke in July, began switching to support Jay Laylin in his bid for the Nationalist House.