Poll indicates many Virginia republicans won’t back Trump

Republican primary frontrunner Donald Trump may repel republicans from voting in the general election if he is nominated for the presidential election in November, according to a new poll by the Judy Ford Wason Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University.

The poll found that in a hypothetical matchup between Trump and Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, 44 percent of likely voters chose Clinton while 35 percent chose Trump. 14 percent said they would vote for neither candidate.

The poll found a geographical divide between voters, showing that Clinton wins in hypothetical matchups in Northern Virginia, Richmond and Hampton Roads while Trump takes Southwest Virginia.

The poll also found that 29 percent of likely Republican voters said they wouldn’t vote for the Republican nominee if Trump were their party’s nominee in the general election. On the Democratic side, 90 percent of likely voters said they vote for Clinton if she becomes the party’s nominee.

“We found a real loyalty gap,” said Quentin Kidd, director of the Wason Center in a statement. “If Donald Trump turns out to be the Republican nominee, it’s clear that a very significant proportion of Republican voters will either defect or stay home. But it looks like most Democrats – even those who backed Bernie Sanders in the March primary – would support Clinton.”

13 percent of Republicans said that they would switch their allegiance to the Democratic counterpart if Trump becomes the Republican nominee. 13 percent said they would vote for a third party candidate and 3 percent would not vote at all.

Most Democrats indicated they would stick with Clinton if she were the nominee, with just 4 percent switching to a Republican vote, 3 percent said they would vote for a third party candidate and 2 percent said they would not vote at all.

57 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said they opposed the use of a brokered convention to stop a Trump nomination, according to the polling data. 36 percent favored the use of a brokered convention to stop the real estate mogul.

“There’s a sizable distaste for Trump among Virginia Republican voters,” said Rachel Bitecofer, director of the Wason Center Survey Research Lab in a press release. “Almost a third would defect or stay home in November. A solid third like the idea of stopping him in July by giving the nomination to another candidate in a brokered convention. This adds up to a real advantage for Clinton in purple Virginia.”

A win in Virginia other states that participated in Super Tuesday in March helped propel Clinton to a lead over Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, her competitor in the Democratic primary. Clinton leads Sanders 1,280 to 1,030 in the pledged delegate count and 1,749 to 1,061 when unpledged delegates are factored in.

In the Republican primary, Trump, who also won in Virginia’s March primary, has 743 delegates ahead of Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Cruz has a 520 delegate count and Ohio Governor John Kasich has 143.

Print News Editor, Fadel Allassan

Fadel is a sophomore print journalism major. He is fluent in English, French and Sarcasm, and he probably doesn’t like you. Fadel enjoys writing about politics and making people drive him to Cook-Out. // Facebook | LinkedIn

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