Cashman: Polling strong, Donald Trump starting 
to get serious

head shotWhen Donald Trump calls into Boston Herald Radio’s “Morning Meeting” today, we will need to find out where you can get a “Trump for President” sign — it seems a lot of New Hampshire voters might be willing to put them on their front lawns.

A new Bloomberg Politics/St. Anselm New Hampshire poll puts Donald Trump in fifth place among potential Republican presidential competitors.

The poll, conducted by Purple Strategies, places the real estate mogul and reality star ahead of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Gov. Mike Huckabee, Dr. Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina.

GOP primary voters have four contenders essentially tied for first place — they are U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, former Gov. Jeb Bush, Gov. Scott Walker and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio.

Trump has been toying with the idea of running for president for several presidential cycles, but his latest interviews suggest he might finally get in the race.

“The problem with that poll is that nobody thinks I’m running,” Trump told Fox News. “If they thought I was running it would be even better. But nobody thinks I’m running. And they may very well be surprised in the very near future.”

Patrick Griffin of Purple Strategies chalks up Trump’s strong poll performance to his name recognition among Granite State voters. “These early polls, and it is still very early, are noise meters — no one makes more noise than Donald Trump,” Griffin said on Herald Radio yesterday.

Trump’s team would obviously disagree with Griffin’s assertions. An aide close to Trump told the Herald he has hired nearly 20 staff members for his presidential exploratory committee. The aide also said it is worth noting he has never hired staff or launched a committee before when considering a White House run.

He currently has about four people working the ground game in Iowa, five in South Carolina, four in New Hampshire and the rest at the central New York office. He just opened an 
office on May 1 in Manchester and will be back 
in the first-in-the-nation-primary state on Thursday.

He doesn’t plan on making an official announcement until June or July — but that doesn’t mean we still won’t ask him to break the news when he calls in at 10 a.m. on Herald Radio.

Jaclyn Cashman co-host “Morning Meeting” from 9 a.m. to noon on Boston Herald Radio. Follow her on Twitter at @JaclynCashman.

Copyright © 2024 Jaclyn Cashman.

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