Keller @ Large: Donald Trump Is His Own Worst Enemy, Polls Show
BOSTON (CBS) - Just five nights ago, Donald Trump was on a roll, fueled by voter appetite for blunt talk on hot-button issues like immigration.
Was it ridiculous when Trump claimed, at his June campaign kickoff, that "I will build a great great wall on our southern border and I will have Mexico pay for that wall"?
Maybe.
But Trump's initial success reflected public fatigue with do-nothing insiders and their cautious rhetoric.
Then again, after last Thursday's debate debacle, maybe there's something to be said for caution.
Before a record TV audience estimated at 24 million, Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly called out Trump for "calling women you don't like fat pigs, slobs, dogs and disgusting animals... Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president?"
"What I say is what I say," was Trump's non-sequitur response. And he went on in subsequent days to attack Kelly, making what appeared to be a crude remark about her menstrual cycle in the process.
At an event in Michigan Tuesday night, Trump claimed to still have momentum. But there are signs his style is catching up to him.
In a brand-new poll out of Iowa, Trump pulls 17-percent, good enough for first place, but down 14 points from the last pre-debate poll.
Asked if they felt more or less comfortable with the idea of President Trump after watching the debate, 55-percent said they were less comfortable, more than double the more-comfortable voters.
And while Trump also leads in another new poll out of New Hampshire with 19-percent, that's a 13-point drop from before the debate, with major attrition among women.
Trump's spin on it all?
"I'm leading in Iowa, leading in New Hampshire."
But for how much longer?
You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.
