Donald Trump may not be the ideal candidate to unite the Republican Party, according to a new poll.
A new Pew Research Center poll finds that just 38 percent of GOP voters think the party will “unite solidly” behind presidential front-runner Trump. Another 56 percent say that disagreements within the party would keep many Republicans from supporting him.
This is a stark difference than opinions of past GOP nominees — 65 percent expected the party to unite behind Mitt Romney in 2012, and 64 percent said the same of John McCain in 2008.
On the Democratic side, 64 percent of voters think their party will solidly unite behind front-runner Hillary Clinton if she is the nominee. In March 2008, about the same number of Democrats (66 percent) said the party would united behind Barack Obama if he won the party’s nomination.
However, Trump is the candidate Republican and Republican-leaning voters most want to see as the party’s presidential nominee — 41 percent say this, compared to 32 percent for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and 20 percent for Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
Clinton and rival Bernie Sanders are much closer when it comes to who Democrats want to see win. Among Democratic and Democratic-leaning registered voters, 49 percent prefer the former secretary of state, while 43 percent Sanders.
Far more voters say Trump would make a “poor” or “terrible” president (59 percent) than a “good” or “great” one (26 percent) — the highest among any of the five candidates in the race. Just 19 percent say Kasich would be a poor or terrible commander-in-chief, while 32 percent say he would be “good” or “great” and 39 percent say “average.”
That’s the highest among any candidate and an increase of seven-points from last month, and good news for the governor as he looks to play spoiler to Trump’s candidacy.
The nationwide poll was conducted from March 17-27, surveying 2,254 adults with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points, including 1,787 registered voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points. The Republican sample of 834 carries a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points and the Democratic sample of 842 carries a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.
