LET’S GET ONE thing out of the way straight off – the overwhelming majority of Irish voters DON’T want Donald Trump to be the next US President.

Most Americans aren’t too fond of him either, if the latest polls are to be believed – an NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey out this week put Hillary Clinton ahead of Trump in the general election stakes by a margin of 50% to 40%.

That said, although his comments drew the ire of everyone from the Mayor of Philadelphia to the London Metropolitan Police, the businessman’s recent ramping-up of rhetoric against Muslims hasn’t done anything to harm his popularity among right-wing Republican voters, it seems.

Associated Press Associated Press

Trump created headlines around the world with his call for a “total and complete” block on Muslims entering the United States, in the wake of the California mass shooting earlier this month.

Yet, heading into Tuesday night’s GOP debate, he was still riding high: a CNN poll of polls showed the real estate mogul dominating the party’s field both nationally and in New Hampshire.

Irish polling 

According to an Irish poll carried out before his headline-grabbing comments about a ban on Muslims, 86% of voters here would not like Trump to be the next President of the United States.

5% of respondents said they would like to see him in the White House, while 9% said they didn’t know.

A second poll, in the week after he made the comments, showed the number of ‘don’t knows’ reducing – and a slight increase in the other two categories. To break down the figures: 88% said ‘no’, 6% said ‘yes’ and 6% still hadn’t made up their minds.

Men in Ireland are much fonder of him than women, according to the two polls – both of which were carried out by Amárach Research for Claire Byrne Live. In the latest survey (after his ‘ban Muslims’ comments) his support was at 9% among men, and at just 4% amongst women.

His support is highest among voters in the 18 – 24 age category (13% in favour versus 82% against) in the latest poll. Just 1% of people over 55 would like to see a Trump presidency.

‘Before’ – from 30 November…

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‘After’ – from 14 December…

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Read: Who wants to see a video of Donald Trump cowering in front of a bald eagle?

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