Donald Trump's outspoken views are 'pushing Republicans to the right on immigration'

Senior Republicans fear the party could be damaged by Mr Trump's White House run

U.S. presidential hopeful Donald Trump speaks in New York

Donald Trump's increasing popularity ahead of the upcoming election has sparked a sense of unease among Republicans who fear his controversial views may be harming the Party and influencing other candidates.

The real estate mogul and former reality TV star is currently leading the field of Republican candidates, after announcing his candidacy in June.

Despite being the front-runner, some officials have questioned whether Mr Trump’s strident comments will simply serve to damage the party’s long term reputation, rather than gain him entry into the White House.

Donald Trump delivers the keynote address at the Genesee and Saginaw Republican Party Lincoln Day Event (Getty)

Since going public, Mr Trump has been at the centre of much media attention. According to a New York Times report, a number of senior Republicans believe the attention can impact his campaign for the worse by further alienating immigrant voters.

Mr Trump’s insistence on using incendiary speech is costing him any chance of gaining minority votes. The backlash from his comments alone regarding Mexican immigrant, calling them “rapists”, led NBC, Macy’s, NASCAR and Univision to cut off ties with him.

In 2012, he repeatedly denied the existence of global warming, stating that it "was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive.”

Despite his headway, some political analysts doubt Mr Trump's popularity at the top of the Republican presidential nominee will last.

Some have compared his lead to that of Rudolph Giuliani v John McCain in the 2008 Republican presidential nomination; Mr Giuliani’s initial soaring ratings fell flat towards the end in the same way that officials predict Mr Trump’s will.

Political scientist Larry Sabato believes Mr Trump will not win the Republican nomination

The focus of Mr Trump’s views on the migration issue has forced other candidates to discuss the same issues, leading the media to cover concepts like “anchor babies” and whether candidates should only speak English.

“Any candidate that allows Trump to dictate the conversation about what they’re campaigning on is going to be harmed irreparably,” Josh Holmes, a Republican strategist, told the Times.

“And to the extent that there are mainstream candidates dragged into the musings of Trump on a day-to-day basis is really bad news for us.”

One political analyst at the University of Virginia who does not believe Mr Trump will win the nomination said that presidential nominations generally follow "a certain rule”.

Dr Larry Sabato, head of the Centre for Politics at UVA, said: “Trump is an early season fling for many people, fun while it lasts but doomed to breakup somewhere along the path to the nomination.”