Norwich City Council President Pro Tempore Peter Nystrom has been a Republican since he was an 18-year-old college freshman.

But looking at the two candidates for president most likely to end up on his ballot on Nov. 8, Nystrom said he draws a blank.

“Honestly, it’s a case of none of the above — her or him,” Nystrom said. “I have nowhere to go right now.”

As the Republican National Convention draws closer, and local GOP voters and leaders begin to confront the reality that Donald Trump will be the nominee, many remain unsure.

The presumptive nominee's stream of speeches and television appearances have included boasts that he would ban Muslim immigration to the U.S. and build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico, warning against undocumented Mexican immigrants who are "rapists," and saying he doesn't consider Arizona Sen. John McCain — who spent more than five years as a prisoner of war being tortured and kept in solitary confinement — a war hero because "I like people who weren't captured."

“I’m trying to assess everything,” said state Rep. Kathleen McCarty, R-Waterford. “There’s no choice left, that’s the Republican dilemma. They’re not happy with the Trump message, but they don’t know where we go.”

Even for Republicans who would consider voting for a Democrat, Hillary Clinton as the alternative doesn't feel much better.

“We have 300 million people in this country, some of the most intelligent, kind, thoughtful people,” East Lyme First Selectman Mark Nickerson said. “These are the two we end up with?"

Voters in every town in southeastern Connecticut favored Trump in the Republican primary in April, helping the New York businessman win Connecticut’s 28 convention delegates and push past the total 1,237 pledged delegates he’ll need to win nomination at the convention in Cleveland in July.

That support baffles many who consider themselves lifelong Republicans, Nystrom said.

“I’m really troubled by it all,” he said. “The whole country’s in turmoil — the fact that he has risen to where he is demonstrates the uneasiness and the discomfort with the established norms.”

Local politicians and GOP voters said they usually stay out of presidential politics, choosing instead to campaign and vocally support conservative candidates for local and statewide office.

With just over 300,000 registered Republicans and nearly 600,000 registered Democrats, Connecticut is expected to stay a blue spot on the electoral map anyway, they said. 

A vote for any Republican into the White House won’t do much to change the outcome.

But this year, even deciding whether they will support the Republican on the ballot hasn’t come easy.

“I haven’t come to that decision,” Nystrom said. “I know that I will not vote for Hillary.”

Nickerson echoed a phrase that several local prominent members of the GOP used to describe the choice they face in November.

“I’m definitely between a rock and a hard place,” he said.

Montville Republican Registrar of Voters Dana McFee used a different phrase.

“He’s crass,” McFee said. “I hate him.”

“I am tormented,” he said. “Because I can’t stand Hillary Clinton but hate Donald Trump just as much. I never liked him before he was a presidential candidate — I don’t even believe he’s as wealthy as he says he is. I think he’s full of it.”

McFee said he has relatives who plan to vote for Trump.

He doesn’t understand it, he said.

“I’m amazed at that, that people would just look past that," McFee said. "You hold a president to a higher standard. I don’t care, you just do.”

McFee said he’s hoping for a coup at the Republican National Convention that would replace Trump with someone else.

Anti-Trump Republicans have threatened to push for pledged GOP delegates to break the rules of the convention and vote for an alternative candidate, though Connecticut GOP chairman J.R. Romano told the Hartford Courant last week that any defections among the state’s 28 convention delegates is unlikely.

McFee said he knows Trump’s success in primary races across the country — including winning nearly 600 votes in Montville — has to do with people’s desire for an outsider to replace members of the establishment.

“At the registrar’s office, we saw a lot of unaffiliated (voters) switch over (to vote in the primary). I don’t know if these were true Republicans, or whether they all jumped on board to vote for this guy,” he said.

“He’s not a politician,” he said. “The type of person he is, is worse.”

McFee said he’s counting on another option to show up on the ballot, and doesn’t know what he’ll do if the choice comes down to Trump or Clinton.

“I absolutely will not vote for that guy,” he said. “And I will absolutely not vote for Hillary Clinton, either.”

Bill Vogel, the chairman of the New London Republicans for eight years, had an easier time making up his mind.

“He’s a very good businessman, a very good manager, and a very good leader,” Vogel said. “He’s a proven quantity.”

Vogel said he understands other Republicans’ concerns.

“He’s very controversial, that’s true,” he said.

But Vogel insists that the real estate mogul’s success in business, along with his stance on immigration and his outsider status, make him the best candidate — not a last resort.

“There wasn’t anyone else in the Republican field during the primary that really came up to those standards,” he said.

Jeb Bush was fine, Vogel said, but Trump’s designation of the former Florida governor as “low-energy” was accurate.

“Christie was a good guy,” Vogel said. “Kasich used to be really good ... but he sounded more like a teenage girl than a former governor.”

In the end, he said, “Donald Trump was a pretty good choice.”

“The problem he has is that he’s not a politician, and never has been,” Vogel said. “He makes what you might call beginner mistakes as a politician. He’s a little rough around the edges when it comes to political correctness."

That’s part of his appeal, though, Vogel said.

“We don’t really need polished politicians as presidents,” he said. “We need dynamic leadership.”

Trump’s assertions that as president he would ban all Muslims from traveling into the country and order a wall built between the U.S. and Mexico are all part of the package, he said.

“People are, by and large, very refreshed about the fact that he’s not politically correct,” Vogel said. “I think people will forgive him for those kinds of things.”

Mike Cherry, a former Ledyard Republican Committee secretary, said he expects GOP leaders to convince Trump to tone down his demeanor by the convention.

“I think the national Republican Party is going to have a little intervention and help him,” he said.

Even so, Cherry said, he’s been disappointed with candidates for the White House for several years.

“If you look through the years, the question comes up — where are the individuals who you can be proud to say ‘that’s my president?'” he said.  “Where are those people? It’s a shame that very often ... you’re choosing between the lesser of two evils instead of supporting someone (you) can stand behind.”

As for whether he will vote for Trump, Cherry said he knew his answer — at least for the public record.

“For the newspaper?” he said. “Absolutely.”

m.shanahan@theday.com