File Photo: US billionaire Donald Trump (Agence France-Presse)

White House hopeful Donald Trump jumped far into the lead in the race for the 2016 Republican nomination, a poll showed on Monday, despite a backlash over his comments disparaging immigrants and US war hero Senator John McCain.The hotel magnate was the favorite for 24 per cent of Republican and Republican-leaning independent voters, the highest percentage and widest lead so far in the campaign, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.He far outpaced his rivals Scott Walker (13 per cent) and Jeb Bush (12 per cent). The next seven had support ranging from eight to three per cent.But the survey was conducted from Thursday to Sunday, and the Post said most of the participants were interviewed before Mr Trump lambasted Mr McCain on Saturday.Billionaire Trump's popularity among those questioned dropped significantly after that latest outburst, the Post said.But the first official Republican presidential debate is not due until August, with primaries and caucuses for the party's presidential nomination taking place next year. So polls could shift significantly in the meantime.Senator McCain said Mr Trump should apologize to veterans after he dismissed the US senator's military record because he was taken prisoner during the Vietnam War.Mr Trump sparked outrage over the weekend when suggested that a serviceman who was captured could not be a real hero, in reference to Mr McCain's time in a Vietnamese prison.Many politicians rallied to Mr McCain's defense, but the defeated former presidential candidate downplayed the attack on his own record, while defending fellow veterans."Those who inspired us to do things that we otherwise wouldn't have been capable of doing, those are the people that I think he owes an apology to," he told MSNBC television.The senator, an influential Republican foreign policy hawk, said it was wrong to call into question someone's military record because they were captured."I think the point here is that there are so many men and some women who served and sacrificed and happened to be held prisoner and somehow to denigrate that in anyway, their service, I think is offensive to most of our veterans," he said.Mr McCain was responding for the first time since the notoriously outspoken Mr Trump's astonishing attack.The 78-year-old decorated aviator was shot down, captured, tortured and spent five years in a prison camp during the Vietnam war."He's not a war hero," Mr Trump told a political gathering in Iowa on Saturday. "He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured, OK?"Mr Trump is known for his off-the-cuff and provocative statements, but his outburst targeting Mr McCain sparked a firestorm of bipartisan condemnation.US Secretary of State John Kerry, a Democrat who also served during the Vietnam War, lashed out at the comment, as did former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, a Republican.For his part, the real estate mogul again refused to back down from his remarks, saying he has been unfairly portrayed by the media."The media has done such a false number as usual," Mr Trump told NBC.He said the press had not presented his quotes in context, stressing that he said Mr McCain was a war hero numerous times and insisting he was attacking his post-war political record."Well I'm not a fan of John McCain, he's done a terrible job for the vets," Mr Trump said.The eccentric billionaire's remarks have sparked controversy before, in particular with attacks on Mexican immigrants that offended many of the voters that Republicans will need to court before next year's race.But his brash style is also part of his appeal.