Donald Trump took his roadshow into the deep south on Friday to his largest crowd to date as he moves to make the region a key linchpin in his nomination strategy.
Coming onto the stage with a blast of “Sweet Home Alabama”, Trump energize a crowd of roughly 20,000 in the stadium for South Alabama University.
Flanked on the stage by Sen. Jeff Sessions, the speech focused largely on his recently release immigration plan and on beltway politicians who are “all talk, no action.”
The play for the south is strategic in that the March 1 primaries, which follow closely behind the first-in-the-nation states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, including Alabama and seven other states.
According to an online survey conducted by Reuters and released the same day, Trump’s support among Republicans has surged well past 30%.
What’s more, the poll showed that when offered the top three GOP contenders only, voters chose Trump over Bush and Carson by 44%.
