The latest Suffolk University/USA Today poll is likely spooking Republicans in Washington and eliciting cheers from Hillary Clinton headquarters. The poll finds Donald Trump leading the pack of GOP White House hopefuls with 17 percent support, with all the remaining candidates but Jeb Bush registering just single digits.

Trump’s rise has been swift; he was at just one percent support as late as mid-June in one NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. But since his announcement last month (and with it his controversial remarks about illegal immigrants from Mexico), Trump has shot up and may very well be in the lead for the Republican nomination. This development, we are told from such diverse sources as Mitt Romney, the New Yorker, and various conservative voices, is hurting the Republican party and its eventual nominee.