GOP pollster: Trump "very serious" about 2012 bid

Billionaire Donald Trump laughs while speaking to a crowd at the 2011 Palm Beach County Tax Day Tea Party on April 16, 2011 at Sanborn Square in Boca Raton, Florida.

/ John W. Adkisson/Getty Images

Donald Trump met last week with a high-level Republican polling and consulting firm, in yet another signal the billionaire businessman is laying the groundwork for a presidential bid.

Jim and John McLaughlin, who have done extensive polling and consulting for a number of prominent conservative candidates over the years, both told CBS News that Trump was serious about running.

Trump is now actively reaching out to a number of people, as he weighs whether he will get into the race and which advisers and consultants will help guide his campaign if he does.

"I don't think there's any question he's serious," Jim McLaughlin told CBS News. "I think he's running."

John McLaughlin told CBS News that not only was Trump was "very serious" about making a presidential bid, but that he's putting in the work to get ready and is "doing more of his homework and preparation than people might expect."

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"If he does do this, he's going to play all out to win," John McLaughlin said. "He's going to approach it like he has his business."

The McLaughlins would seem particularly well suited to advise Trump. Their client roster includes a number of anti-establishment conservatives, including former presidential candidates Steve Forbes and Fred Thompson and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

[Adler315]

"Today I'm very proud of myself, because I've accomplished something that no one else has been able to accomplish." Lord, save us. A new high in megalomania, a new low in atrocious and loathsome public behavior.

There is nothing funny about Donald Trump. By virtue of his predatory nature, his unbridled arrogance and his boundless contempt for the intelligence of the American people, he has only succeeded in driving a stake further into the heart of our national political process. He is an exceedingly dangerous man.

What Trump doesn't seem to grasp is the fact that his hot air balloon, from whose lofty heights his garbage has been raining down for weeks on end, has now been definitively punctured in one swift stroke by President Obama. Now Trump is going to have to prove himself as a viable candidate for national office, and that is going to be the best reality show in America.

[skayd]

The GOP has used division, bigotry, hatred, jingoism and fear to motivate their "base" for the last 30 years. Trump was always disgusting, but now he is despicable, completely meeting the standards of his party.

[Adler315]

"Today I'm very proud of myself, because I've accomplished something that no one else has been able to accomplish." Lord, save us. A new high in megalomania, a new low in atrocious and loathsome public behavior.

There is nothing funny about Donald Trump. By virtue of his predatory nature, his unbridled arrogance and his boundless contempt for the intelligence of the American people, he has only succeeded in driving a stake further into the heart of our national political process. He is an exceedingly dangerous man. What Trump doesn't seem to grasp is the fact that his hot air balloon, from whose lofty heights his garbage has been raining down for weekd on end, has now been definitively punctured in one swift stroke by President Obama. Now Trump is going to have to prove himself as a viable candidate for national office, and that is going to be the best reality show in America.

[RobertFinneyPhD]

Original investigations on Kaiser Permanente, ObamaCare's model, expose fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement are posted on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0h7tUymj2Y and www.hmohardball.com.
Robert Finney, Ph.D.

[superdem1]

Donald Trump needs to survive the Repubican primaries in the red states. Can he ? After many years of being pro-choice and supporting womens' reproductive rights, he now has converted and is "pro-life" - how convenient, since he's running for president as a Republican. Most would call that a flip-flop, but evangelicals would call that "good news." The bad news is Donald Trump has been married three times, but he was never a widower - there are two divorces on his record, and several children whose lives must have been made miserable in ways money cannot fix. How do "family values" Republicans and evangelicals feel about that ? Trump is on record saying we should conquer nations and just take their oil. He blatently says that America has that right. He doesn't even try to couch imperialism in any diplomatic terms. Business is business, and politics is business. Are Republicans going to come out and sign on to imperialism as a blatent foreign policy ? Will they fulfill Osama bin Laden's predictions ? Will all the overthrown Middle Eastern nations become Islamic hardline reactionary states that hate America even more than they do now ? Trump's "gloves off" approach cannot win us any friends in the Middle East. But will the Republicans love that macho approach ?

[san850]

Ha! Trump may be "serious about running" , but the American people are not serious about electing him. What a narcissist. And, please Donald, do something about that HAIR!

[mountainstates1]

If Trump were any more of a buffoon, a self-absorbed moron, a loser, and an unabashed racist, they'd be a Republican... wait! Trump is a Republican!

[brian_norwood]

Mr. Trump:

Today, you have been exposed to be a charlatan and a bigot. There is no place for jackasses like you in our American politics.

[Danielmountain]

Rich white people of America unite!

[rightbehind]

I want to see both his birth certificates. His and the one for that thing on his head.

[daffy64]

Lol.

[daffy64]

One thing's for sure...between Palin, Bachman and this moron, the Republican nomination's going to be hilarious.