Donald Trump enters the final few days before Super Tuesday with a commanding lead over his Republican rivals in Massachusetts, one of 12 states set to vote on March 1.
According to WBUR’s latest survey of Massachusetts Republicans, the billionaire GOP front-runner has 40 percent support in the Bay State, putting him nearly 20 percentage points ahead of his next closest competitors: Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. The two establishment-friendly
The remaining two candidates — Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson — trial their opponents at 10 and 5 percent, respectively.
Cruz, who failed to secure a second victory after dominating the Iowa caucuses, is the only GOP hopeful with a net-negative favorability rating among Republican voters in Massachusetts. Just 29 percent of voters view the Texas senator favorably while a majority (51 percent) hold a negative view of him. Kasich has the highest net-positive favorability rating (+18) followed by Trump (+25), Rubio (+15) and Carson (+12).
Overall, Trump is the most-trusted candidate among Massachusetts Republicans. Sixty percent of voters trust the New York businessman the most to put forth policies that stimulate economic growth, 51 percent trust him to tackle immigration reform and 31 percent trust him to handle foreign policy challenges and work with Congress to get things done. Kasich and Rubio are the only candidates to come close to the real estate mogul on the handling foreign policy and cooperating with Congress. Only 8 percent of voters said they would most trust Cruz, who’s often described by his opponents as a divisive figure, to work with federal lawmakers.
Massachusetts has 42 delegates up for grabs on a proportional basis and could provide a much-needed boost to Rubio or Kasich if they perform well enough in the state to pick up a large amount. Coupled with a big win in Texas (155 delegates) or wins in a combination of several Super Tuesday states, Massachusetts could put one of the top candidates in a serious contest with Trump. But if the businessman wins the Bay State and does well in Texas and others, he could run away with the nomination by mid-March.
The survey of 386 likely Republican primary voters was conducted Feb. 21-23, before Thursday’s GOP debate. Results contain a margin of error plus or minus 4.9 percent.
