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CNN Poll: Most Republicans Want Trump in 2016 Race
Sunday, July 26, 2015 08:57 AM
A substantial majority of Republicans want billionaire mogul Donald Trump to stay in the 2016 presidential race, according to a new CNN/ORC poll. He’s the candidate GOP voters are most likely to say they want to see on the debate stage.
Among Republicans, Trump leads with 18 percent support, followed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush with 15 percent. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has 10 percent support among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who are registered to vote. The margin of error is 3.5 percentage points, CNN reported.
Trump's backing has climbed 6 points since a late June poll, while support for Bush and Walker has not changed significantly. None of the other 14 candidates earned double-digit support.
In fact, 22 percent in the poll say they believe Trump will be the party’s nominee to president. That finding makes him second only to Jeb Bush in the poll.
Overall, among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents:
52 percent say they want Trump to stay in the race.
33 percent say they hope he drops out.
15 percent say they want to see him make an independent run for the presidency.
Moreover, most of those Republicans surveyed that wants Trump to remain in the race includes numbers of those seen as the core of the GOP primary electorate, CNN points out:
58 percent of white evangelicals.
58 percent of conservatives.
57 percent of tea party supporters.
The billionaire real estate developer has sparked outrage from critics – including most of his GOP presidential rivals – on statements he has made about illegal immigrants and Republican Sen. John McCain's war hero status. But the CNN poll and others show his campaign method is popular with Republican and conservative-leaning voters.
Trump still has much work to do to build his base, CNN reports. A majority of Republican voters, 51 percent, still seem to be making up their minds, saying they see the field as wide open. Among that group that see the contest as wide open, Bush has 14 percent support, while Trump has the backing of 13 percent and Walker stands at 9 percent.
Trump will have more to worry about in the general election. When put up against Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton and upstart Senator Bernie Sanders, he loses by wide margins. Bush and Walker, by contrast, run just behind Clinton and about even with Sanders.
And Trump's unfavorability rating is sky high. Overall, 59 percent of all registered voters have an unfavorable opinion of Trump, though that dips to 42 percent among GOP voters.
The poll is the first released since Trump discussed McCain's war record last weekend. I was conducted July 22-25 with 1,017 adults, including 898 registered voters. The margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points
