There are still many candidates in the running for the Republican presidential nomination, but Public Policy Polling director Tom Jensen says it’s rapidly becoming a four-man race.
PPP’s latest national survey shows Donald Trump still leading, with 26 percent of the GOP vote; Ben Carson is in second with 19 percent. That’s virtually unchanged from PPP’s last national survey, six weeks ago, when Trump led Carson 27-17. What has changed, though, is that Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio have begun to distance themselves from the rest of the field and close the gap on the two frontrunners. 14 percent of GOP voters now say they’re supporting Cruz – up from 7 percent six weeks ago – while Rubio trails just behind at 13 percent.
No other candidate polls more than 5 percent. Jensen says Jeb Bush has enough of a war chest that he might still be able to make a comeback – at least in theory – but his numbers have been declining for weeks.
On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton has maintained her large lead over Bernie Sanders. Clinton now leads Sanders 59-26; six weeks ago her lead was 57-22. Martin O’Malley, at 7 percent, will get that darned windmill one of these days.
PPP director Tom Jensen spoke Thursday with WCHL’s Aaron Keck.
Perhaps even more striking than the presidential horse-race numbers: PPP asked Republican voters how they felt about Donald Trump’s call to shut down all the mosques in America (a proposal that, if actually implemented, would likely run afoul of the First Amendment). Only 38 percent of GOP voters said they were opposed to it; 27 percent said they favored it, while the remaining 35 percent said they weren’t sure. Trump and Cruz supporters were more likely to support shutting down mosques, while Carson and Bush supporters were more likely to oppose it.
Comments on Chapelboro are moderated according to our Community Guidelines