Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky said Friday that businessman and 2016 GOP rival Donald Trump is a “fake conservative” who has tapped into people’s anger with Washington, D.C.

“I think Donald Trump has tapped into anger with Washington,” Mr. Paul said on CNN’s “New Day.” “In fact, that’s why I ran for office — ‘cause I was angry with Washington, and in fact I was angry with fake conservatives who promise[d] to be conservative and who weren’t.”

“I think Donald Trump is one of those fake conservatives,” Mr. Paul said, pointing to property rights and Mr. Trump’s position on eminent domain as an example.

Mr. Paul had been asked about a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday that showed Mr. Trump atop the GOP pack at 28 percent and Mr. Paul well back at 2 percent.

Mr. Paul said it depends on the poll you’re looking at and that the Kentucky Republican polls quite well against former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Democratic presidential front-runner.

“I think as more conservatives find out that Donald Trump is a fake conservative, I think those numbers will shift, but we’re very early and most of the polls that are being cited, when you ask people, ‘Are you decided?’ two-thirds of the people in all of these polls that are being quoted are really undecided on who they’re going to vote for yet,” he said.

Mr. Paul said that as he travels through the western part of the country, he’s been getting 500 to 1,000 people at every speech.

“Our crowds have been bigger than they’ve ever been, so if I weren’t reading any of this or seeing these polls, I would think we’re doing better than we ever have,” he said. “So all I can do is continue to talk about the fact that we should get rid of the tax code, that we should have a flat tax, one single rate for everybody, 14 and a half percent for everybody, that I think government should be smaller, we need more personal freedom, we need to get rid of the government collecting all of our phone records, and that’s my message.”

“It is my message. I hope it resonates, and we’ll find out over time,” he said.

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