Donald Trump defended his anti-Islam comments during Thursday nights GOP presidential debate and in interviews afterward, saying theres tremendous hatred for America among Muslims. He stood by statements he made earlier in the week , including Islam hates us. But while these sentiments rightfully horrify many people , they probably wont affect Trumps standing in his party.

Throughout this primary campaign, polls have shown over and over that many Republicans agree with Trumps extremist rhetoric.

Much of the polling on views of Muslims has focused on Trumps proposal to keep all non-citizen Muslims out of the U.S. until we can figure out whats going on. In early December, several polls asked voters whether they supported or opposed that proposal. The questions' wording mattered -- Trumps exact conditions for the proposal were unclear, so pollsters asked the question in different ways -- but overall, majorities of Republicans supported the proposal unless it was presented as a total and complete shutdown of any Muslim entering the United States. Even in that scenario, 42 percent of Republican voters supported the proposal.

Many of the exit polls in states that have already held primaries have asked Republicans whether they support a temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S. These voters overwhelmingly support the ban -- over two-thirds of Republican voters in most states are in favor of temporarily banning Muslims, as are over three-quarters of voters in many deep South states.