Republicans who don't support Donald Trump are more likely to prefer either Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio should the race go to a one-on-one contest, or would even favor a contested convention rather than have Trump take the nomination, a new
ABC News/Washington Post poll reveals.
By the numbers, Trump continues to lead overall in the poll of 1,000 Republican and Republican-leaning voters surveyed by phone on March 3-6:
- Donald Trump: 34 percent
- Ted Cruz: 25 percent
- Marco Rubio: 18 percent
- John Kasich: 13 percent
But in one-on-one matchups:
- Cruz leads Trump by 54-41 percent
- Rubio leads Trump by 51-45 percent
- Among non-Trump supporters, seven in 10 say they'd prefer Cruz or Rubio.
- Very conservative Republicans: Cruz over Trump, 60-34 percent; Rubio over Trump, 56-41 percent;
- Evangelical white Protestants: Cruz over Trump by 64-31; Rubio over Trump, 55-42 percent.
In January, Trump had a 16-point lead and Ohio Gov. John Kasich was in the single digits:
- Donald Trump: 37 percent
- Ted Cruz: 21 percent
- Marco Rubio: 11 percent
- John Kasich: 2 percent
Trump's lead over Cruz is now 9 points.
Among Democrats, Hillary Clinton's lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders has slipped to an all-time low:
- Hillary Clinton: 49 percent
- Bernie Sanders: 42 percent.
Clinton held a 19-point lead over Sanders three months ago.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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