Donald Trump
Sen. Lindsey Graham is getting a little attention for his gasping presidential campaign by being the Republican most willing to criticize Donald Trump. It's a target-rich environment, and Graham is
hitting one of those targets:
"I think he's hijacked the debate. I think he's a wrecking ball for the future of the Republican Party with the Hispanic community and we need to push back," Graham said in an interview with CNN's Dana Bash on "State of the Union" Sunday.
He's not wrong! Trump will not help the Republican Party with Latino voters, not one bit.
But ... Trump is at or near the top of Republican primary polling, and Graham is way down toward the bottom. So who represents Republican thinking on immigration and Latinos better?
A new poll from Monmouth University, by the way, doesn't just show Trump jumping from being the choice of two percent of Republican primary voters up to 13 percent. It shows his favorability going from negative 35 to negative one—still a little underwater, but now being positively viewed by 40 percent of Republicans. As he's run his mouth about Mexican immigrants being rapists, Trump has gotten more popular among Republicans. Much more popular. So while Lindsey Graham is absolutely right that Trump is setting the Republican Party back with Latino voters, evidence suggests that today's Republicans don't have a problem with that.