Trump Surprised He's Getting "Hammered"

Reuters reports:

NASHUA, New Hampshire (Reuters) - Real estate magnate Donald Trump suggested Wednesday it's not much fun flirting with the idea of running for president in the face of relentless attacks and ridicule.

"Nobody said it was going to be easy, but I had no idea I would get hammered in the way I've been hammered the past few weeks," Trump said in Nashua, New Hampshire.

The billionaire host of NBC-TV's "Celebrity Apprentice" has hinted for months that he will run for the 2012 Republican nomination for a chance to take on President Barack Obama.

But Trump has slipped badly in surveys taken since Obama released his birth certificate confirming he was born in the United States.

The so-called "birther" issue had been a major issue of Trump's nascent campaign.

Public Policy Polling, which in April showed Trump leading the Republican field with 26 percent support, this week showed him with just 8 percent support.