As Republican party officials and congressional leaders begin contemplating what the political world would look like with Donald Trump at the top of the ticket, the complexion of the race could change abruptly.
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The latest CNN/ORC Poll showed the controversial business tycoon once again pulling away from his rivals, garnering the support of more than a third or 36 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents. The poll has Clinton defeating Republican front runner Donald Trump by three points, but losing to second tier candidates Ben Carson and Marco Rubio by small margins.
Digging a little deeper into the CNN/ORC research accounts for some of this by pointing out that Trump’s support seems divided between the less-educated and the wealthy, with 40 percent support from voters who earn less than $50,000 and 33 percent from voters who earn more.
Among others, GOP voters also trust Trump on issues such as the Islamic State (46 percent) and foreign policy (30 percent).
These comments aren’t as objectionable as Mr. Trump’s talk of registering Muslim Americans, a proposal he has toyed with in the weeks since the Paris terrorist attacks, or when he mocked the physical disability of a New York Times reporter who dared challenge him.
Last month, Trump had 24 per cent, with 23 per cent for Carson.
The poll also reflects the dominance Trump enjoys over others in the field on issues that voters deem to be of uppermost importance to them.
Among Republican voters with college degrees, however, Trump was only the fourth most preferred candidate, with 18-percent support. Republicans and conservatives may soothe themselves with the idea that voters will eventually abandon Trump, but any attempt to explain why he’s risen in the first place would require the GOP to confront the unpleasant truth that they took an active role in creating this monster. Some supporters see him as establishment alternative to the maverick front-runner, Donald Trump. All of the rest of the Republican White House hopefuls were in the low single digits, including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), who had just 3% support, and Sen.
And candidate Trump makes himself hard not to criticize – which only brings millions of dollars worth of free media every day.
Cruz is up 12 points while Trump adding 9 points has benefited the most from the declines.
On the Democratic side, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton holds a 20-point lead over Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
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Meanwhile, a whopping 47 percent of all GOP voters think the government should move on a plan advocated by Trump to deport some 11 million immigrants.
