Donald Trump’s in-your-face style, which excited voters as he blazed onto the campaign trail, may have backfired when he was put to the test during Thursday’s Republican presidential debate.
Trump went onto Fox News’ debate stage at the top of the top-tier GOP contenders, but his lead didn’t last long, according to pollster Frank Luntz, who led a Republican focus group on Fox’s “The Kelly File” immediately after the debate.
“You know what happened?” began one viewer. “I liked him when I came in here because he wasn’t a politician. But right now? He skirted around questions better than a life-long politician ever had.”
“I was expecting him to do a lot better, but he just crashed and burned. He was mean, he was angry, he had no specifics,” said another.
Luntz indicated the group’s reaction meters showed a very negative response right out of the gate, when Trump refused to rule out running for president as a third-party candidate.
Opinions of Trump’s performance didn’t get much better from there.
“He let me down. I just expected him to rise to the occasion and look presidential. He didn’t.”
But don’t expect Trump’s camp to lie down and take the beating. Michael Cohen, executive vice president of Trump’s campaign, came out swinging.
A total setup by @FrankLuntz and #FOXNEWSDEBATE to try to lower #Trump2016 high poll numbers. American people will not fall for your tricks.
— Michael Cohen (@MichaelCohen212) August 7, 2015
Cohen had a lot of support from those who thought the debate was a Fox News setup to take out Trump.
@MichaelCohen212 @FrankLuntz totally agree Fox is out to bring Trump down coordinated effort tonight from moderators to Luntz would drop Fox
— Gameday (@gamedayclassics) August 7, 2015
@MichaelCohen212 @FrankLuntz I could not believe the first question in the debate. Appalling. Complete setup.
— m.steff.jr (@SaberByte1) August 7, 2015
@MichaelCohen212 That was not a valid focus-group; those were trained-seals. At least @FrankLuntz hid his bucket-of-fish from the camera…
— robert grant (@grantrobertb) August 7, 2015
@MichaelCohen212 Michael great news Trump winning Drudge Report poll at 40% Cruz 2nd at 12%
— Gameday (@gamedayclassics) August 7, 2015
Related:
Disappointed with Fox debate moderators: ‘Juan Williams couldn’t have been worse’
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