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by NW Spotlight
Donald Trump was not expected to do very well in the crowded field of 2016 Republican presidential candidates. He was barely on the radar of national pundits, and here at Oregon Catalyst he came in at #10 in our picks [2] back at the end of July.
But Trump continues to dominate the polling [3] – in recent polling he was up over 30% and his closest rival was Ben Carson at just under 17%. All other GOP candidates had under 10%.
So far he has been immune to attacks and Teflon in his ability to do things that would tank traditional presidential candidates. If anything, his flaunting of political correctness has seemed to help him in the polls! Politico is crediting [4] Trump with “shaping American policy.”
On his campaign web site [5], Trump offers appeal to conservative voters:
“Mr. Trump has over 7 million followers on social media. He frequently uses this platform to advocate for Conservative causes, Republican candidates and to educate the public on the failures of the Obama administration. Mr. Trump appears on Fox and Friends on Monday mornings and devotes much of his time to media interviews in order to promote a Free Market, the importance of a strong family, a culture of Life, a strong military and our country’s sacred obligation to take care of our veterans and their families.”
But that can’t be all that’s getting him so much early support.
And he does have his conservative doubters. Conservative Cal Thomas wrote this [6] about Trump in TownHall.com yesterday: “Rarely and perhaps not in modern times has a presidential campaign more resembled the classic 1957 film, ‘A Face in the Crowd [7].'” It’s not a flattering comparison. A deeper analysis of campaign data in conservative National Review [8] a few weeks ago concluded “that Trump will have a very hard time building on his current support in later races,” as the crowded GOP field narrows.
But Trump remains on top, and he’s already survived and even thrived on numerous pronouncements of his demise.
So what is it about Trump that has garnered him such strong support? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.