Donald Trump is firmly established as the GOP campaign front-runner, despite all the dire predictions from the nation's pundits, and anxiety is growing among Republican critics that he'll likely remain at the top when the Iowa caucuses take place on Feb. 1 — just over two months from now.
For four months, according to RealClearPolitics polling averages, Trump has led the pack, only dipping below Ben Carson a few times, reports
The Hill, and his numbers remain twice those of Sen. Marco Rubio, the closest establishment candidate.
And even though there were people in the party who discounted Trump as as a serious candidate from the time he first announced and angered people with his statements on Mexican immigrants, his popularity has continued to rise.
“He has a real shot at this. He is the clear front-runner,” said Ron Bonjean, a consultant and former GOP aide, and now it's "safe to assume that he is going to continue with this strong momentum right into Iowa.”
Craig Robinson, a former political director for Iowa's Republican Party, said the media has "twisted and turned" to portray Trump as a flash in the pan, but now "there is a realization that you are not going to wake up tomorrow and he's going to vanish."
And the establishment, he said, still believes Trump won't be able to translate the poll numbers into votes, something "tell themselves so they can sleep at night. The truth is, Trump has one of the better ground operations in Iowa. Will he turn out every single person who shows up at his rallies? No. But if he turns out a fraction, he will roll over the field.”
But the fight back is starting to grow, including a $1 million campaign in Iowa by the Club for Growth, which seemed to make Trump's numbers dip slightly.
In addition,
GOP operative Liz Mair has planned a "guerrilla campaign" against Trump, claiming that without her group, Trump Card LLC, "Trump is exceedingly unlikely to implode or be forced out of the race.”
Florida GOP strategist Rick Wilson, who will be producing ads for Mair's group if funding comes in, told The Hill that he had expected other campaigns would have knocked down Trump's numbers, and he was wrong, but unlike Trump "I will admit when I have made a mistake."
But, he insisted that the group needs a "sustained commitment " from people who understand nominating Trump would mean losing the White House to Hillary Clinton.
Still other Trump opponents are holding out hope that the race will shift as the field narrows, but so far, that hasn't started to happen.
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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