Two New Polls Show Trump Is A Viable Candidate

Yesterday I posted about a poll that showed Donald Trump has vaulted into contention as a Republican candidate for president in the state of New Hampshire. I was a little surprised at his quick rise to viability, but it was only one state and the possibility existed that he would not be as popular in other areas. After all, there are a lot of other candidates and most of them have been showing their interest in the nomination for a lot longer than "The Donald".

But now there are two other polls that have been released that show Trump may really be a viable candidate for the Republican nomination. The first is a poll of likely Republican caucus voters in Iowa done by Neighborhood Research. They did several combinations of candidate ballots, but the one that listed all the likely candidates showed Trump outpolling all candidates except Huckabee and Romney. Here is how it came out:

Mike Huckabee...............21.0%
Mitt Romney...............13.5%
Donald Trump...............8.8%
Newt Gingrich...............7.8%
Sarah Palin...............6.6%
Michele Bachmann...............5.3%
Tim Pawlenty...............4.4%
Ron Paul...............3.4%
Herman Cain...............2.5%
Rick Santorum...............1.3%
Haley Barbour...............0.9%
Roy Moore...............0.6%
Mitch Daniels...............0.3%
Gary Johnson...............0.0%
Buddy Roemer...............0.0%
Jon Huntsman...............0.0%
John Bolton...............0.0%
Undecided...............23.5%

Trump is not leading the pack there, but he is outpolling most other candidates. But again, that is just one state's results (although it does show the New Hampshire result could be more widespread that expected). But the third poll is a nationwide poll, and it tends to confirm that Trump has some support. The latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll shows the following:

Mitt Romney...............21%
Donald Trump...............17%
Mike Huckabee...............17%
Newt Gingrich...............11%
Sarah Palin...............10%
Tim Pawlenty...............6%
Michele Bachmann...............5%
Rick Santorum...............3%
Haley Barbour...............1%

And the numbers get even better for Trump when only the teabaggers are polled. This is important because this group controls the party in many states and will most likely control the next Republican convention. If no candidate has a majority when the convention is held, it is probable that the teabaggers will choose the Republican candidate. Here are the teabagger preferences:

Donald Trump...............20%
Mitt Romney...............17%
Mike Huckabee...............14%
Sarah Palin...............12%
Newt Gingrich...............9%

All of the recent polls show two things. The first is that there is no real favorite among Republicans. Although Romney and Huckabee finish near the top in most polls, they have yet to really seperate themselves from the pack. This could change once the campaign kicks into high gear, but right now the race is still wide open.

It also shows that Donald Trump is a viable Republican candidate for the presidential nomination. I had one person tell me that it is just because of name-recognition -- The Donald is a famous and well-known person. I'm not so sure. I can't believe he is any more well know than Sarah Palin or some of the others, especially among Republicans (and it was Republicans responding to these polls).

I think it is more likely that's Trump's "birther" attacks on President Obama has struck a chord among many in the Republican Party. But whatever the reason, it looks like Donald Trump is really a viable candidate -- more viable than many others who would like to run. And that makes me happy. I doubt it will happen, but the thought of an Obama - Trump presidential race brings a smile to my face.