Only Trump polled higher.
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“The key question is: Will the now fragmented college-educated half of the GOP coalesce around another candidate (say, Rubio) eventually?” Second was Carson with 14 percent.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie received 4 percent of support, good enough to round out the top five.
Referring to the recent spate of protests across college campuses related to free speech, Noonan wrote Thursday that Trump’s anti-P.C. rhetoric has enthralled Republican voters, aiding his “so far unstoppable rise”.
Republican voters are most sharply divided by education. Marco Rubio is at 12 percent. Respondents also thought that Trump could best handle the responsibilities of being president. Realistically, no one’s going to cut deeply into his hold on blue-collar voters.
The memo from Ward Baker, executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, says Trump and Willkie have a lot in common.
Cruz has wrapped his campaign around a conservative interpretation of the Constitution, and strong outreach to Evangelicals.
For example, a central facet of Trump’s plan for dealing with illegal immigration is the mass deportation of the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants now in the country. On foreign policy, Trump inches up to 32%, and among those who call terrorism an extremely important issue, 49% say they trust Trump most on ISIS. However, in order for Cruz to “motivate” his base, he’s going to have to focus on the cultural and social issues that would in turn get younger and minority voters fired up: immigration, gay marriage, and abortion.
“Trump’s brash, frankly nationalist attitude appeals to certain segments of the blue-collar Democratic and independent vote”, Pietrusza says. Republican opinion on Trump’s “deport ’em all” plan is also complicated.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, like Rubio, offered a staunch defense of Israel. “I don’t know that Israel has a commitment to make a deal”, he said. If they do, they can stop Trump. Cruz doesn’t talk like that. Many voters see his lack of a filter as a sign of authenticity, and proof that he isn’t part of a political establishment they believed has failed to stop the implementation of President Obama’s liberal agenda.
To this last point, it may be too soon to count out Donald Trump and the level of support he has received nationally. This is despite only 29% of Republicans overall supporting the idea to 44% who are against it. In fact supporters of all 13 of the other candidates are against this concept.
“Our president doesn’t want to use the term”, Trump said Thursday.
The audience better appreciated Trump’s references to his daughter Ivanka, who converted to Judaism and observes the Jewish Sabbath.
Cruz voters are more traditional conservatives and libertarians. The Jacksonians are united behind one candidate.
Throughout all these months, most political professionals have pooh-poohed his chances of actually winning the nomination – and for plausible reasons.
Jeb Bush will get another look at some point.
But here’s an inconvenient truth – None of those polls can tell us, at this point, who’s likely to win the GOP nomination. Republicans are having trouble taking on Trump not only because they welcomed his support in the past and not only because they have often embraced (in a less colorful and direct way) numerous themes he is accenting, but also because they have delivered next to nothing to their loyal white working-class supporters.
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Update: Did CNN prime this poll to favor Trump?
