Donald Trump's poll numbers are good, political analyst Karl Rove conceded Thursday, but he urged viewers to put the numbers into "a little bit of perspective."
"He has been in the race for six weeks," the one-time chief of staff for President George Bush and current Fox News contributor said on the network's
"America's Newsroom" program. "He has had a good move up, a good bump up, but we've seen this before.
"Look, there will be a lot of movement in this race. It is really still early."
And even though Trump is topping the polls as far as Republicans who would support him, his favorability ratings are suffering, Rove said.
For example, according to a
Quinnipiac University poll conducted July 23-28 of 1,644 registered voters,
Trump has 20 percent support, well ahead of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who comes in second place, followed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
However, pointed out Rove, "30 percent of the Republicans say they definitely will not vote for him," marking the highest percentage of voters who said they would not support a candidate.
"In a June 15 Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, 66 percent said they could not vote for him," said Rove. And when it comes to his honesty, 58 percent of those in the Quinnipiac poll said Trump is not trustworthy, he added.
"Trump has a high floor and a low ceiling," Rove said. "He has a lot of enthusiasm going or some enthusiasm going, but he has got a ceiling."
The numbers are also dropping for Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, and Rove said that is because she's "pressing against herself."
"These are all self-inflicted wounds," he said. "The more people see of her and her conduct in this campaign and how she is dealing with the issues coming up, whether it is emails or whether it's, you know, her views on the issues, or you know, the latest kerfuffle about Keystone ... all this stuff causes people to say she is not shooting straight with me. She is not honest and trustworthy."
Meanwhile, Rove said, it is going to be difficult for Clinton to change.
"She has not been good about being nimble and repositioning and pivoting," Rove said. "She is who she is. We've known her for 30 years. It will be hard for her to change.
"If I were a Democrat thinking about getting in, I would wait to see how the numbers continue to erode. Nobody thinks Bernie Sanders is likely to be the Democratic nominee but if he beats her in Iowa, there is somebody, whether it's John Kerry, or Joe Biden, or Andrew Cuomo, to jump in."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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