The latest polling frontrunners are some of the most most conservative candidates in the crowded Republican field, proving their message is "striking a chord" with voters, Richard Viguerie, chairman of ConservativeHQ.com tells
Newsmax TV.
In a panel discussion Wednesday with "Newmax Prime" host J.D. Hayworth, the veteran conservative movement activist says Donald Trump is leading the pack because he's tapped into the anger of the "grassroots."
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Analyzing a new
CNN/ORC poll that puts Trump at the head of the GOP presidential primary pack, with 22 percent, Viguerie said the top five — Trump, Ben Carson, Gov. Scott Walker, Sen. Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina — are "probably five of the six most conservative of the 17 [candidates] running."
"So the conservative candidates are about 60 percent," he figured, "and then you have Bobby Jindal, another conservative" and the percentage could get higher.
"The conservatives are striking a chord with the voters out there," Viguerie declared.
Conservative political consultant Brooke McGowan argued Trump is making a particular impact on the issue of border security.
"Conservatives are listening and … his message is resonating," she said. "There are other things that … he says that really rub conservatives … maybe Christian conservatives, the wrong way but I just watched a video from 2011 when he was
interviewed by [the] Christian Broadcasting Network, and he speaks to his Christian faith so that's where a lot of evangelicals are looking at very closely."
Viguerie said the "nerve" Trump has struck is that "people at the grassroots are furious with the Republican leaders."
"Angry, furious" at the "lying and the dishonesty of the Republican leaders… and they campaigned against amnesty and Obamacare and the high spending by the Obama administration and then give Obama everything he wants after the election was over in 2014," Viguerie said. "Trump has tapped into that. You're going to see Cruz and Walker and some of the other people come in there and begin to erode that support."
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