Real estate tycoon Donald Trump continues to be in the lead after his controversial exchange with Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly at last Thursday’s Republican presidential debate, suggests an NBC News online poll released on Sunday — a day when Trump in phone interviews to major networks (minus Fox) stoutly defended his comments.
The poll, conducted August 7-8, found that Trump led the table with 23 per cent support among Republican voters, followed by Senator Ted Cruz (13%), neurosurgeon (11%), former HP chief executive Carly Fiorina (8%) and Senator Marco Rubio (8%). Surprisingly, the poll reported that former Florida Governor Jeb Bush was trailing behind with 7 per cent.
If Trump’s comments about Kelly are thought to be hurting his standing in the Republican primary, it’s not showing in the numbers, NBC News said. Conservative group RedState’s rescinding of its invitation to Trump to address its annual gathering in Atlanta also did not affect the billionaire businessman’s poll count.
Trump himself refused to apologise for his comments on Kelly during the debate and even more aggressively in a subsequent interview to CNN, when he remarked: “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever.”
That prompted talking heads on many TV shows to slam Trump for his ‘misogynistic comment’ and predict that his popularity among Republicans was set to slip rapidly.
“Only a deviant would make that jump,” Trump told NBC’s Meet the Press, insisting that by “wherever,” he was referring to Kelly’s ‘ears or nose’.
He justified his outburst, saying Kelly and other Fox moderators ‘unfairly’ targeted him during the debate, remarking: “When I’m attacked, I fight back.”