Billionaire businessman Donald Trump, who has been courting one controversy after another in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, has surprised pundits by taking a big early lead in what is turning out to be an exceptionally crowded field, with 16 hopefuls already in the fray.
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll, released on Tuesday, had Trump on top of the heap with 24 per cent among registered Republican supporters, with his two immediate rivals lagging far behind – Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (13 per cent) and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush (12 per cent). Bobby Jindal, the Indian-American Governor of louisiana, was trailing far behind with just 2 per cent support.
While Bush had been widely regarded as the early front-runner among the Republicans, Trump stole the first march over him in a Fox News poll last week and has widened it considerably in the new poll. Trump had led with 18 per cent in the Fox poll, followed by Walker (15 per cent) and Bush (14 per cent).
Trump, however, may be up against odds in the coming days and weeks because of his penchant for controversy, the latest being his disparaging remarks against veteran Senator John McCain, questioning his status as a war hero.
“How long the Trump surge lasts is an open question,” said ABC News, noting that the latest poll was conducted mostly before Trump’s remarks against McCain last Saturday that have been condemned by most of his rivals in the presidential race. The last segment of the poll conducted after sharp comments did show a drop in Trump’s standing.
Even so, political watchers are clearly surprised by the Trump numbers. As the Post put it, “That is the highest percentage and biggest lead recorded by any GOP candidate this year in Post-ABC News polls and marks a six-fold increase in his (Trump’s) support since late May, shortly before he formally joined the race.”
Walker, who announced his candidacy just a week ago and is in second place, draws much of his support from the section of Republicans who regard themselves as “very conservative”.
It is this very segment that Jindal, too, counts upon. But he trails in the 12th place among the 16 candidates in the latest poll.
Trump, despite the intense criticism by Republican bigwigs, has not only refused to apologise to McCain, but has gone on to justify his comments. In an interview to the New York Times, Trump said it was McCain who offended him first by calling his supporters ‘crazies’.
“When I was in Phoenix last week, it was so crowded they had to turn thousands of people away and he (McCain) called them crazies, and I was very offended he called them crazies,” he said.
Explaining his remarks on the well-regarded military service of McCain, who spent more than five years in captivity during the Vietnam War, Trump said: “I said, hey, what about the people that weren’t capturedIJ And the truth is, nobody talks about them.”
In his interview, Trump was dismissive of the presidential bid by the likes of Jindal and former Texas Governor Rick Perry and Jindal. “You get guys like Perry, he’s not registering, Bobby Jindal was very vehement – oh, bah bah. I think he’s at zero,” remarked Trump, who had been attacked by Jindal for the McCain comments as also his earlier remarks against Mexican immigrants.