New polling suggests that panic is about to grow even more intense. For example, as Rachel noted on the show last night, Fox News has released the results of a new survey of Republican primary voters in South Carolina, which shows Trump with 35% support, far ahead of Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio, who are each about 20 points behind the frontrunner.
But in this case, the top-line results tell only part of the story. From Fox’s report:
The poll, released Wednesday, was conducted Saturday through Tuesday evenings. Trump made provocative remarks Monday about barring Muslims from entering the United States.It looks like his comments help him in South Carolina. Support for Trump increased eight points after his statement — from 30 percent the first two nights vs. 38 percent the last two nights.
Got that? A plurality of GOP voters in South Carolina were already rallying behind Trump, but after hearing about his anti-Muslim bigotry, Trump’s support went up, not down.
This is consistent with an online Bloomberg Politics poll that found roughly two-thirds of Republican primary voters nationwide agree with the GOP candidate’s plan to ban Muslims from entering the country.
But wait, there’s more.
A national New York Times/CBS News poll was released this morning, and it also shows the New York developer in a dominant position.
1. Donald Trump: 35% (up from 27% in September)
2. Ted Cruz: 16% (up from 5%)
3. Ben Carson: 13% (down from 23%)
4. Marco Rubio: 9% (up from 6%)
No other candidate is in a competitive position, including Jeb Bush, whose support is down to just 3%. Carly Fiorina’s backing has collapsed to 1%.
This poll, by the way, was conducted from Dec. 4-8, and Trump’s inflammatory announcement was made the evening of Dec. 7.
Finally, there’s the latest CNN/WMUR poll of Republican voters in New Hampshire:
1. Donald Trump: 32% (up from 26% in September)
2. Marco Rubio: 14% (up from 9%)
3. Chris Christie: 9% (up from 5%)
4. Jeb Bush: 8% (up from 7%)
5. Ted Cruz: 6% (up from 5%)
Trump’s 32% showing is the best of any Republican candidate in a CNN/WMUR poll in New Hampshire this year.
What do each of these horse-race polls have in common? Trump has better than a two-to-one advantage over his next closest competitor in each one.
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Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."