Ardent conservative Ben Howe may do the unthinkable when he enters his South Carolina voting station on Nov. 8.
Howe, who has voted for every Republican presidential nominee since Bob Dole ran for the office in 1996, may instead cast his ballot for conservative public enemy No. 1: Hillary Clinton.
"It's disheartening to think that I would have to pull the lever for someone whom I disagree with that much," said Howe, a contributing editor to the conservative blog RedState. "But such is the maniacal, sociopathic person that we have somehow found as our nominee."
Such is the antipathy held for Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican Party presidential nominee, that some conservatives are considering supporting Clinton, so iconically loathed by many Republicans who view her as an unabashed liberal without morals or principles.
"Only Donald Trump could lift me beyond my visceral aversion I have for Hillary Clinton," said Tom Nichols, a former aide to a Republican senator and contributor to the conservative online magazine The Federalist.
Wehner said it's an important issue to consider, but the presidency is more than choosing Supreme Court nominees.
"I think at the end of the day, one of the most important things a president needs is the right temperament, the right emotional stability ... who conducts himself in a certain way, who has wisdom, who doesn't fly off the handle."
And better four years of possible gridlock with a President Clinton, than be subjected to a President Trump, Harsanyi added.
"I want to see Hillary win. I think that's the only way to save any remnants of conservatism in the Republican Party where the RNC and everyone else has largely given in to Trump," he said.
"She's sort of an institutionalist. I don't think she will blow up the republic in the way that a Donald Trump might."