It's just one survey but, if it is accurate, reports of Donald Trump's imminent political demise once again appear to have been greatly exaggerated.
A new NBC News Online Survey measured "Public Opinion on Republican Debates," and was at odds, in some instances, with many pundits and a great deal of conventional wisdom. The survey was conducted Friday evening into Saturday after the Thursday night Fox News debates.
Post-debate support for Trump was slightly up, not down, among Republican primary voter participants who were mostly white and mostly female. Trump leads all Republicans in the survey by a wide margin. However, the biggest gains in support after the debate belong to Ted Cruz (who improved seven percentage points) and Carly Fiorina (who improved six percentage points). Trump improved just one percentage point.
According to the survey, Ben Carson improved his support among Republican primary voters by three percentage points; Trump and Mike Huckabee by one percentage point each. Jeb Bush and Scott Walker lost the most ground: three percentage points apiece.
[box]NBC Survey: Support Among Republican Primary Voters
Fri. Aug. 7-Sat. Aug. 8
23% Trump (+1)
13% Cruz (+7)
11% Carson (+3)
8% Fiorina (+6) and Rubio (unchanged)
7% Bush (-3) and Walker (-3)
5% Huckabee (+1) and Paul (-1)
2% Perry (unchanged) and Kasich (-1)
1% Christie (-2), Graham (unchanged) and Jindal (unchanged)
0% Santorum (-1) and Pataki (unchanged)[/box]
Fiorina was selected in the survey by the most people as the candidate who performed the best among all Republicans on debate night. She was followed by Trump, Rubio and Cruz.
The NBC survey sampled 3,551 adults.
[button link="http://www.pdf.investintech.com/preview/33f7458c-3ec9-11e5-9555-002590d31986/index.html"]Read the survey results[/button]
Donald J Trump all the way !!!
I very much enjoyed reading "Stonewalled" and even reread it since there was so much of interest to me. Obviously, it was well done and thoughtful and led a number of people such as me to think further about the role of all the forms of media that we are exposed to.
Let me pose a question on the ongoing battle over Trump's remarks that include what he has said "post debate". I think his responses during the actual debate were what I might have expected based upon my perceptions of his ambitions. However, if you believe, as I do, that he does everything for a purpose, my reaction to his "response" to Megyn Kelly is that he may have carefully crafted those words for a purpose. As an investigative reporter who is experienced at detecting complex motives or hidden agendas, do those remarks and word choices raise your level of interest? I would be interested in your thoughts.
The most interesting item from the poll in my opinion is that 56% of the votes went to outside (non-political) or Cruz who has been outspoken about the Republican leadership in Congress.
I greatly admire you and you work. Would you consider writing an investigative piece regarding Carly Fiorina's remarks on Islam, as well as her ties to Muslim countries and people during her working career? I would also like the same for Chris Christie. There is plenty swirling around the Internet. I would trust you to produce a fair and honest piece more than anyone else.
Some of what Donald Trump says is true, and his exposure of how things go wrong for America is very needful. But he has admittedly given of his money so that others would serve him. That makes his business work. That doesn't translate to someone who would be serving the people, in the position of a presidency. We don't need another dictator, no matter how well intentioned.
Rand Paul gives of himself to serve others. He studies the issues and comes up with definite plans and actions to serve the needs. He works very hard and willingly risks his popularity in order to correct wrongs. He interferes with Senate proceedings and pushes bills in order to require that Senators have the time to read and discuss bills before they pass them. He files lawsuits and introduces bills to make changes that conform more closely with the constitution. He has a detailed tax plan carefully put together with consultation of tax experts. He desires communications and negotiations with non-allies, but from a position of strength. In his personal life he gives free eye care and eye surgeries to poor people here and abroad. I am opposed to his pro-life involvement. But otherwise I support what he did and said in the debate and thought he looked just like what we need in a future president.