The most serious fault lines within the party seem to be over social issues such as abortion and immigration, as well as governmental surveillance, the Common Core educational initiative, and entitlement reform.

One thing they all agree on: Barack Obama has been an ineffective president, and Hillary Clinton would be worse.

Robert W. Merry, longtime Washington political correspondent and publishing executive, is the author most recently of  Where They Stand: The American Presidents in the Eyes of Voters and Historians.