The biggest turning points in a polarizing campaign

The G.O.P. Hoped Trump Would Go Away. He Didn’t.

Republican leaders told themselves that Mr. Trump’s dominance in the polls over the summer of 2015 was a fluke and would end because of his statements about race, women, the military and trade. But evidence began to pile up — from polls, surveys and interviews with supporters — that he had built a broad, demographically and ideologically diverse coalition that could propel him to the Republican nomination.