Donald Trump's star may be fading —
based on several polls out in recent days — and some other Republican presidential candidates are hopeful that the billionaire businessman's decline will continue.
"The great salesman Donald Trump may in fact be failing at the single most important thing in politics — and that is to seal the deal," a strategist for a rival candidate told
Politico. "It's been a very long summer.
"It's been a deluge of 24 hours a day, seven days a week Donald Trump. When you reach that point of oversaturation, which I believe Trump is at right now, you only start to go down."
Curt Anderson, chief strategist for Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, told Politico: "I think the bloom is off the rose for sure.
"Every act gets old. Plays run on Broadway only for so long," Anderson said. "The first five times he calls people an idiot it's funny. I think at this point, it's kind of gotten stale."
Trump continues to lead several polls released this week, but retired pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina are easing closer.
The developer led the
Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday, at 25 percent, but down from 28 percent last month. However, Carson finished at 17 percent, up 5 points, and Fiorina at 12 percent — a 7-point jump.
The survey also showed that
Carson would finish stronger than Trump in a general-election contest.
The latest
Fox News poll released Wednesday paints a virtually similar scenario: Trump finished on top at 26 percent, but up only 1 point from the survey Fox took after the first debate last month.
Carson was second, at 18 percent, up from 12 percent — and next were Fiorina and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, with 9 percent each.
Fiorina had 5 percent support in August, compared with Rubio's 4 percent.
Trump, however, quickly beat back questions that his polls numbers might be slipping.
"No, I don't," he told CNN on Thursday. "I actually think it's doing very well.
"If you look at the Fox poll that just came out, it's an even bigger margin than this [Quinnipiac poll]. And if you look at the NBC poll, it's a much bigger margin. Then if you look at Zogby, and if you look at Reuters, and if you look at some of these other polls, it's through the roof.
"No, I don't think — I heard your statement — is it slipping?" Trump said.