Donald Trump: Hillary Clinton Poll Has Her Taking Large Number Of Cruz Supporters — How Bad Is It?
Donald Trump recently received some bad news, as a poll showed Hillary Clinton taking a statistically significant number of Ted Cruz supporters. The poll, commissioned by Morning Consult, showed that while 62 percent of Cruz supporters will vote for Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, nearly 40 percent will not: 13 percent say they will vote for Clinton. Twenty-five percent, or one-fourth of those who wanted the Texas senator to be the GOP nominee, are undecided.
Four out of 10 Cruz voters say they won't back Trump int he general election https://t.co/ACDoQsueMi pic.twitter.com/JqN9i9n1vh
— Morning Consult (@MorningConsult) May 4, 2016
The news for Trump is worse among those who backed Ohio governor John Kasich: Only 51 percent who voted for him in a primary or planned to do so say they will back Trump, and 25 percent now plan to vote for Hillary Clinton. Twenty-three percent of Kasich backers aren’t sure how they’re going to vote in November or even if they will.
This poll was based upon findings after questioning 3,940 respondents with a 5 percent margin of error, according to Morning Consult.
The Morning Consult poll shows that Donald Trump still has work to do to in mending fences with his former rivals after a bruising primary season, where he belittled foes with nicknames like “Lyin’ Ted” (for Cruz) and “Little Marco” (for Marco Rubio). Trump also angered Cruz and his supporters when he suggested in a Fox And Friends interview that Cruz’s father, evangelist Rafael Cruz, may have been involved in the John F. Kennedy assassination in 1963 based upon a questionable story from the National Enquirer tabloid, as Inquisitr reported at the time.
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Donald Trump: Still Lagging Despite a Few Competitive Polls
Trump supporters were heartened by a few polls in recent weeks that showed a competitive race with former secretary of state Clinton, the current leader in the Democratic nomination — most significantly from a Rasmussen Reports poll, which gave Trump a two-point lead. A Reuters/Ipsos poll also showed Trump barely trailing Clinton, 41-40 percent.
Donald Trump (40%) is already tied with Hillary Clinton (41%) in national polls.
Last week, Hillary led by +13%. https://t.co/k0PwnouxGX
— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) May 11, 2016
However, Clinton still maintains a 5.7 percent lead over Trump in the Real Clear Politics average of polls. A CNN poll gave Clinton a 13-point lead, 54-41 percent.
While there are still over five months to go before the general election, this is not encouraging news for Trump if the past is prologue. According to the Washington Post, whoever was leading in the polls at this point in the last three elections went on to win the presidency.
- In 2004, incumbent George W. Bush led his challenger, Senator John Kerry, by 2.2 percent.
- In 2008, Senator Barack led Senator John McCain by 3 percent.
- In 2012, President Obama led former governor Mitt Romney by 1.3 percent.
Here’s who led in the general election at this point in 2004, 2008 and 2012 https://t.co/oIWCJQWg1v
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) May 13, 2016
Trump: Does He Need A United Republican Party?
Meanwhile, the Guardian reported that Trump suggested that he does not need a united Republican Party to win in November.
“I think it would be better if it were unified,” he said. “And I think there would be something good about it. But I don’t think it actually has to be.”
But many experts disagree with Trump, including University of Georgia political science professor Charles Bullock.
“He needs to make nice with other Republicans,” he told the Gainesville Times. “He needs to quit calling them names. He needs to apologize for some of the things he’s said in the past.”
What do you think? Can Donald Trump persuade Ted Cruz’s and John Kasich’s former supporters to join his campaign?
[Photo by Matt Mills McKnight/Getty Images]
