After overseeing a focus group of 29 fervent Donald Trump supporters, Republican pollster and consultant Frank Luntz told a group of reporters that, “My legs are shaking.”
Although the Middle East is in chaos, our Southern border is in chaos, and our inner-cities are in chaos; although we are entering our seventh year of economic malaise as the national debt tops $18 trillion, the so-called Smart People in politics and media still can’t quite figure out why a wildly successful businessman promising change and to stick it to these same Smart People, is so danged popular.
Maybe the focus group — made up of 23 whites, 3 blacks and 3 Hispanics — woke some of them up: [emphasis added]
“When Trump talks, it may not be presented in a pristine, PC way, but we’ve been having that crap pushed to us for the past 40 years!” said another man. “He’s saying what needs to be said.” …
“I used to sleep on my front porch with the door wide open, and now everyone has deadbolts,” one man said. “I believe the best days of the country are behind us.”
“I’m frustrated beyond belief. I feel like I’ve been lied to,” a woman said. “Nothing’s getting better.” …
Trump’s unapologetic focus on strengthening the border—he wants to build a wall and deport all 11 million immigrants before letting many back into the country—excites many conservatives, as well as some who don’t traditionally vote Republican. Though he has announced scant specific plans, Trump has said he will expand the military, commit to veterans, and take a tough line on dealing with China and Iran.
“He’s not afraid,” said a woman who voted twice for Obama. “He keeps prodding on even if people give him negative press. He doesn’t change and apologize.” …
The crowd in the room was angriest about national security. Nearly all of them, it appeared, had an unshakeable feeling that U.S. border was porous as a sieve and that the very things that once defined the nation: army, border and national pride—were fading.
Luntz concluded that, “Trump is punishment to a Republican elite that wasn’t listening to their grassroots.”
Only the serial-losers who make up our Consultant Class would need a focus group to tell them that.
After the Fox News Republican primary debate, Luntz’s focus group unanimously reassured him that Trump had lost the debate. Trump responded by calling Luntz a “low class slob” and rising in the polls.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC