If the Americans did polls like the Brits, the headlines would be about Trump’s unpopularity

Donald Trump, previously know in Britain mainly for his controversial golf course plans, is now catching the headlines with his bid for US President, and all the nastiness along the way.

However, while Trump might love attacking Muslims, he is less popular than Muslims with his fellow Americans:

Donald Trump: unpopular populist

It’s also worth noting from those figures how very different the public perception of Donald Trump is thanks to the American way of reporting poll findings.

If the British style of regularly reporting overall leadership ratings amongst the whole electorate was the norm in the US then – as these figures show – Trump would be dogged by reports of him being deeply unpopular.

But because instead American polling at this stage focuses in on those likely to vote in party primaries and caucuses – the keenest of the keen – those popular with the extremes get much better net poll ratings. Headlines about topping the poll therefore follow, rather than headlines about massive unpopularity.

Just because the American polling attention and headlines point elsewhere, it doesn’t alter the underlying point. He is that classic populist politician – deeply unpopular.