Donald Trump's favorability is on the rise with Republicans and closing in on front-runner Jeb Bush, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds.
Trump's appeal has risen to 57 percent, meaning that nearly six in every 10 Republicans see Trump in a favorable light, compared to 65 percent who saw him negatively just two months ago, the Post reported Wednesday.
That's good enough to challenge Bush, whose appeal among GOP voters is just six points higher at 63 percent.
But Trump remains unfavorable among the general public, the poll finds, with 61 percent ranking him unfavorably and 33 percent favorably. Latinos by a wide margin — 81 percent — dislike Trump, particularly after his recent comments on Mexicans and immigrants. His numbers with this group were at 60 percent unfavorable in a May survey.
However, the general public's view of the real estate mogul has improved since he launched his campaign in May, when 71 percent had an unfavorable view of Trump.
By comparison, Bush's favorability among all voters of all political stripes is at 38 percent, with 47 percent having an unfavorable view of the former Florida governor.
Outside of Hispanics, Trump's appeal has slowly improved across almost all demographics and parties. Even Democrats like the billionaire slightly more — his favorability there is up from 17 percent to 19 percent.
While his favorability rating is going up across the board, conservatives are split, 46 percent to 46 percent, on how much they like Trump, and his net favorability rating is still in the negative among independents, moderates and women.
Trump says he's confident he could win substantial Hispanic votes if he's the party's nominee.
Brushing aside the controversy over labeling Mexican immigrants as "rapists" and "criminals," Trump argues "the Hispanics love me."
He tells MSNBC: "I employ thousands of Hispanics."
Trump also says he's not worried about any lack of support in the Latino community and argues he hasn't been hurt politically by his calls for clamping down on illegal immigration.
Trump has refused to soften his stand on immigration, even after a plea by Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus that he tone down his remarks.
The GOP fared poorly with the Hispanic community in the 2012 presidential election.
Bush's net favorability among Hispanics is 15 percentage points higher than Trump's. In the poll, 46 percent said they have a favorable view of the former Florida governor, who has a Mexican wife and a much softer stance on illegal immigration, with 31 percent saying they have a negative view of Bush. The Post notes that these are "very good numbers for a Republican these days."
In addition, Bush's general favorability rating also tops Trump's in every other major category. This is true even among conservatives, by 67 percent–28 percent, which amounts to a net favorability rating for Bush of 39 percentage points. Trump's rating with conservative Republicans is far lower that Bush's, with a net 20 percentage points, or 58 percent–38 percent.
The Washington Post-ABC News poll was taken July 8-12 of 1,011 adults with a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.
