It’s The Racism, Stupid!

Another day, another poll showing Republican presidential candidate and anti-Mexican crusader Donald Trump leading the presidential field, but this time, with a difference. One of the ways in which the political media has thus far been able to dismiss Trump’s candidacy has been his extraordinarily high negatives, which allow him to lead in a flat field, but which present a low ceiling for him down the road. According to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, though, Trump not only leads the entire Republican field with 17% support, his favorability among Republicans has nearly tripled since their last poll:

Trump’s positive ratings are up very sharply among Republicans and strong conservatives, by 34 and 30 points, to 57 and 55 percent, respectively. He’s also gained 26 points among seniors and 24 points among whites, to 38 and 42 percent in this poll, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates.

That spike in favorability was enough to more than double Trump’s overall favorability, from 16% in May to 33% in the latest poll. That still gets him clobbered in the general election, but suddenly gives him lots of room to move up in the Republican nominating contest even after the field narrows. With the first televised debate just weeks away, Trump is poised to open up a huge national lead once he gets done stuffing Jeb Bush into a locker on Fox News.

As the political media struggles to explain Trump’s popularity, they toss around adjectives like “bold” and “brash,” two things that Trump was in May, and that lots of other GOP candidates are now. What they seem afraid to say is …READ MORE

By: Tommy Christopher

Tommy Christopher is The Daily Banter's White House Correspondent and Political Analyst. He's been a political reporter and liberal commentator since 2007, and has covered the White House since the beginning of the Obama administration, first for PoliticsDaily, and then for Mediaite. Christopher is a frequent guest on a variety of television, radio, and online programs, and was the villain in the documentaries The Audacity of Democracy and Hating Breitbart. He's also That Guy Who Live-Tweeted His Own Heart Attack, and the only person to have ever received public apologies from both Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.