5 Times Donald Trump Has Backtracked His Position in Less Than 24 Hours

Donald Trump speaks bluntly, but is also prone to backtracking.

ByABC News
March 31, 2016, 4:16 PM

— -- Donald Trump speaks bluntly, but is also prone to backtracking.

In several instances, Trump’s position on certain subjects has evolved or changed -- and fast. Flip-flopping, backtracking and clarifying, of course, are not political moves unique to Trump. His rivals in both parties have done it too.

But Trump’s comments this week about abortion have shined a brighter spotlight on the Republican presidential front-runner’s tendency to take a position only to change his stance later.

Here are five examples:

1. Abortion -- March 30, 2016

During an MSNBC town hall on Wednesday, Trump was asked whether women should be punished for getting an abortion if the procedure were banned by law.

Trump’s said “yes,” but did not elaborate on what that punishment should be.

However, after a clip of that interview was released, Trump's campaign released the following statement from Trump: "This issue is unclear and should be put back into the states for determination. Like Ronald Reagan, I am pro-life with exceptions, which I have outlined numerous times."

His campaign later released another statement, effectively retracting the most controversial portion of the comments he had made during the MSNBC taping.

“If Congress were to pass legislation making abortion illegal and the federal courts upheld this legislation, or any state were permitted to ban abortion under state and federal law, the doctor or any other person performing this illegal act upon a woman would be held legally responsible, not the woman,” the statement from Trump read. “The woman is a victim in this case as is the life in her womb. My position has not changed -- like Ronald Reagan, I am pro-life with exceptions.”

2. Two Trumps or One? -- March 11, 2016

At a news conference with Trump, former presidential candidate Ben Carson explained why he was endorsing the real estate mogul. Carson said how he had come to know “two Donald Trumps.”

“There are two different Donald Trumps,” Carson said. “There's the one you see on the stage, and there's the one who's very cerebral, sits there, you can have a very good conversation with him, and that's the Donald Trump that you're going to start seeing more and more of right now.”

When asked about Carson’s comments, Trump at first acknowledged there are, in fact, two sides to him.

"I probably do agree. There are probably two Donald Trumps,” he said. “The public version and people see that, and I don't know what they see exactly, but it seems to have worked over my lifetime, but probably different, I think, than the personal Donald Trump. Ben said it very well today. Perhaps there are two Donald trumps.”

But later in the same press conference, Trump appeared to have a change of heart.

"I don't think there are two Donald Trumps,” he said. “I think there's one Donald Trump.”

3. H-1B Visas -- March 3, 2016

During the Republican debate on Oct. 28, 2015, Trump said he was in favor of issuing more H1-B visas, the temporary worker visas for people who aren’t American citizens but who want work in a specialty occupation in the U.S. and have a bachelor's degree or higher.

“I’m all in favor of keeping these talented people here so they can go to work in Silicon Valley...” Trump said, adding later, “I'm in favor of people coming into this country legally. You know what, you can have it any way you want. You can call it visas, work permits, you can call it anything you want ... but as far as the visas are concerned, if we need people, that is fine.”

ABC News' Paola Chavez contributed to this report.