Kasich: Trump is ‘touching a nerve’ with voters

Ohio Gov. John Kasich said on Friday it is impossible to ignore GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, given the attention he is receiving from voters. 

{mosads}Kasich added that enthusiasm for the billionaire’s 2016 run is proof his outsider message is appealing to certain Americans. 

“I think it has to be acknowledged,” Kasich told hosts Charlie Rose, Norah O’Donnell and Vinita Nair on “CBS This Morning.” 

“You don’t get this kind of support in a Republican primary unless you’re touching a nerve,” he said of Trump’s meteoric rise in the national consciousness. 

Kasich argued on Friday that Trump is finding success with Americans, because many of them are disenchanted with the political status quo. 

“I think some people are very unsettled,” said Kasich, another 2016 contender. “I understand that.” 

“There are a lot of Americans who, number one, don’t respect the government,” he said. “There are some people who actually think the government is working against them.”

“They are responding to the idea that the system is broken by saying, ‘Let’s take a sledgehammer to it and start over,’ ” Kasich added. 

Kasich then said that does not mean he supports Trump’s rhetoric on the campaign trail. 

He said that he disagrees with Trump, for example, over some of his language criticizing women in the past. 

Asked if Trump’s use of phrases such as “slob” and “fat pig” were appropriate for describing women, Kasich said, “Of course it’s not, everybody knows that.”

“I am just acknowledging that the guy has touched a nerve,” he added. “I didn’t tell you I approve of everything he is doing.”

Trump inspired outrage on Thursday by challenging Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly over her questioning during the GOP’s first televised presidential debate that evening. 

The New York business mogul said afterwards that she “behaved very badly” by bringing up some of his past remarks toward women. 

Kasich said on Friday that voters will eventually crave more substance out of their 2016 options. 

“The question is, what do we do about the concerns that Americans have?” he asked. 

“What I try to do is be positive about that and have positive solutions, which is what I’ve had my entire political career,” the Ohio governor added.