Most Republican and Republican-leaning voters think their party should unite behind front-runner Donald Trump if he does not get the 1,237 delegates he needs to secure the GOP presidential nomination and there is a contested convention this summer, according to a new poll,
Politico reports.
According to the Monmouth University poll, conducted of 817 GOP voters between March 17 to 20:
- 54 percent of those polled said the party should back Trump;
- More than one-third called for delegates to nominate someone else;
- 7 percent are unsure.
And voters were divided over who they'd prefer to win the nomination:
- 33 percent, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz;
- 23 percent, Ohio Gov. John Kasich;
- 10 percent, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio;
- 5 percent, Ben Carson;
- 4 percent, Mitt Romney;
- 3 percent, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush;
- 2 percent, House Speaker Paul Ryan;
- 18 percent, don't know.
Trump has said that his
supporters would likely riot if he goes into the convention with almost the required number of delegates and not be nominated, and that voters will not cast ballots if someone else is nominated, but voters in the Monmouth poll suggested that is not true:
- 43 percent said they would still vote for the GOP nominee;
- 27 percent said they wouldn't vote;
- 7 percent would support the Democratic nominee;
- 13 percent would back a third-party candidate.
Meanwhile, 95 percent of the voters said they have either seen or heard about violence at Trump's rallies, but were divided on who they blame:
- 44 percent blame Trump and protesters equally
- 26 percent fault protesters;
- 23 percent blame supporters.
The poll carried a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.