Donald Trump’s initial slam on illegal immigrants has turned into polling gold for the Republican frontrunner, as a new survey finds that GOP voters overwhelmingly believe he has the best plan to deal with the issue.
About half — 49 percent — of Republicans trust Trump on immigration, some four times more than any other candidate, most of which do not support Trump’s goal of deporting illegals.
“Half of Republicans view Trump as the candidate who can best handle immigration, more than four times the percentage who name Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, the son of immigrants, who is in second place, far behind Trump. Only 5 percent believe former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush would do the best job on immigration,” said the Economist/YouGov poll analysis.
In order:
— Trump 49 percent.
— Rubio 11 percent.
— Ted Cruz 6 percent.
— Bush 5 percent.
— Ben Carson 5 percent.
The issue took center stage at this week’s GOP debate and many of the candidates mocked Trump’s call for deporting illegals.
The poll, not surprisingly, found that immigrants aren’t in favor of Trump’s plan and that by a margin of three to one believe Democrats would do the best job on the issue.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
