Trump Claims Secret Service Denies Him Protection for Being Republican

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said that he denied US Secret Service protection, because "he is a Republican."

NEW YORK (Sputnik) — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump claims he has been denied US Secret Service protection despite his continuous and substantive lead in the polls, media reported on Wednesday.

"Personally, I think if [Barack] Obama were doing as well as me, he would’ve had Secret Service earlier," Trump told The Hill. "They’re in no rush because I’m a Republican."

President Obama was granted Secret Service protection in May 2007, almost 18 months prior to the 2008 presidential election.

The latest Quinnipiac University poll shows Trump leading the Republican presidential hopefuls with 34 percent support from likely voters in the US state of Connecticut.

Trump’s result is the highest score he had in any state poll conducted to date, according to Quinnipiac University. The second most popular Republican presidential candidate in Connecticut is neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who garnered 14 percent support from likely voters.

Trump has argued that being provided Secret Service protection is merited.

"Of course, I don’t think they’d want anything to happen," Trump said. "But I would think they should be proactive and want protection for somebody like me that has 20,000 people at any time. You would think that they would want to be very proactive, but we have not heard from them."

The US presidential election is scheduled to take place on November 8, 2016.