Donald Trump Ends Year Unscathed

Rick Klein: “Another poll with Trump on top? That’s not a surprise anymore. But widen the lens of this race and the year is ending in some unexpected ways… First, Donald Trump still hasn’t substantially tapped his fortune for TV ads, not with his free-media campaign succeeding the way it is. Second, he’s barely getting attacked by his main rivals anymore. Jeb Bush’s and John Kasich’s super PACs are knocking him hard, but their numbers are headed more toward Graham territory than Trump.”

“Meanwhile, Marco Rubio is being attacked by Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and Chris Christie, to make no mention of Trump’s occasional jabs. Rubio is spending most of his time hitting Cruz, in the developing battle for Iowa, amid Ben Carson’s fade. The banking-on-New Hampshire crowd of Bush, Kasich, and Christie are tangling with each other. And now, of course, Trump’s biggest fight isn’t with any Republican: It’s with Hillary Clinton.”

First Read: “According to the normal rules, when new and negative information about a politician is introduced, his or her poll numbers are supposed to go down. But Donald Trump’s numbers have only gone up among Republicans.”