ON DECEMBER 8th we published a chart tracking Donald Trump’s poll rating against some of the more outrageous comments he has made thus far on the primary campaign trail. This was immediately after he called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States, prompting howls of protest in the media and among many in his own party. However, those comments have done Mr Trump little harm among Republican voters. A poll for NBC/Wall Street Journal taken between December 6th and 9th puts Mr Trump on 27%, his highest rating in that survey all year. Washington Post/ABC News which conducted a poll between December 10th and 13th has Mr Trump on 38%, up five percentage points from November. In addition it finds 59% of Republicans support his position on Muslims, though the majority of all Americans do not (recent polling also shows that Ted Cruz now poses the biggest threat to Mr Trump nationally; he has also vaulted into the lead in Iowa, the first state to vote in the nomination process next year.)

Tonight’s Republican debate in Las Vegas is the first to be held by either party since the killing of 14 people in San Bernardino by a Muslim couple suspected of being radicalised. We should expect plenty of talk on terrorism; the issue has now jumped to the top of the list of Americans’ concerns after the shootings, according to Gallup.