Entrance Polls: Massive Majorities in Nevada Want Political Outsider

2016 Nevada Caucus Marcio Jose Sanchez AP
Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP
Matthew Boyle
Washington, DC

Nevada Republicans overwhelmingly want a political outsider for the GOP nominee, according to entrance polls trickling out Tuesday evening.

ABC News entrance polls show 61 percent of caucus-goers want a political outsider, while just 33 percent want someone with experience.

Nevadans are also more “angry” at the government right now, the poll shows.

Both factors benefit national GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, the billionaire who’s taken the 2016 election by storm and who’s expected to win the Nevada caucuses. They also hurt Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), the new face of the Washington establishment, whom everyone in the GOP establishment seems to be rallying around to stop Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).

“Six in 10 caucus-goers say they’re looking for someone from outside the political establishment, compared with about half in previous contests,” ABC News wrote. “About six in ten also describe themselves as angry at the way the federal government is working – vs. four in 10 in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina alike.”

CBS’s entrance polls showed a similar result, finding 58 percent of Nevada GOP caucus-goers are “angry” at the government. In Iowa, however, only 42 percent of such GOP caucus-goers were “angry,” and 39 percent of New Hampshire GOP primary voters and 40 percent of South Carolina GOP primary voters were “angry.”

CNN entrance polls found similar numbers, with 57 percent of caucus-goers describing themselves as “angry.”

According to CNBC’s Everett Rosenfeld, too, lots of evangelicals and lots of conservatives voted on Tuesday in Nevada’s GOP caucuses.

“Early entrance poll data indicated that 32 percent of Republican caucus-goers identified as white evangelicals, and 38 percent said they were at least 65-years-old, according to NBC News. That’s fewer white evangelicals than this year’s Iowa caucus and South Carolina primary, but the largest portion above 65 of any Republican test yet,” Rosenfeld wrote.

“Additionally, 40 percent of early entrance poll respondents identified as ‘very conservative,’ and 43 percent as ‘somewhat conservative,’ according to NBC News,” Rosenfeld added.

NBC’s Frank Thorpe added an overwhelming majority of Nevadans at the GOP caucuses want their next president to be from outside the political establishment.

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