Voters in Pennsylvania, the next state after New York to hold a presidential primary, believe that Donald Trump should be named the Republican nominee if he gets the most delegates.
The voters in the poll also believe he has the best chance among his party's nominees to defeat Hillary Clinton for president, according to the
Allentown Morning Call's poll report.
The poll was conducted by the Morning Call newspaper and Muhlenberg College with 422 likely Republican voters, from April 7 to April 12:
- 41 percent of likely Republican voters say they believe Trump will win.
- 26 percent of likely Republican voters say John Kasich will win.
- 23 percent of likely Republican voters say Ted Cruz will win.
Poll respondents weighed in on who they would vote for if Trump became the nominee:
- Two-thirds of likely Republican voters said they would vote for Trump if he is the candidate.
- One-third said they would vote for Clinton or skip voting altogether.
More than four out of 10 voters said they believe Trump is most likely to defeat Clinton.
- One-fourth of the voters said they wouldn't support Trump if he were the nominee.
- One-fourth of the voters also said that about Cruz and Kasich if they won.
The four most common words the poll respondents associated with Trump are "arrogant," "businessman," "strong," and "aggressive."
Two out of three respondents in the poll said they believe Trump "speaks the truth." A majority did not agree that he "only cares about himself."
"He can be brash and rude, but some of the things he says make sense," respondent Elizabeth Zimmerman said. She switched from the Democratic Party so she could vote for Trump, according to the Morning Call.
Under Pennsylvania's delegate rules, the top vote-getter only gets 17 out of 71 delegates. The rest of the delegates are elected on the primary ballot, and can vote for whomever they want.
"I think that stinks," Zimmerman said.
A
New York Times report pointed to a Monmouth University poll that put Trump at 44 percent, with Cruz at 28 percent and Kasich at 23.
Trump wins out among poll respondents who say they are "somewhat conservative," and is in a close race with Cruz among the "very conservative" voters. Trump scores biggest, the poll said, with voters who don't have college degrees.