USA Today reports that 68 percent of GOP frontrunner Donald Trump supporters say they would vote for the real estate mogul even if he leaves the Republican Party.
Trump is ranked first in the GOP field in a USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll, and 68 percent of those surveyed said they would vote for Trump even if he ran as an Independent.
Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) showed “emerging national strength” in the poll, which was taken Wednesday through Sunday.
USA Today reports, “Among Democrats, former secretary of State Hillary Clinton has widened her lead over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders to nearly 2-1, 56%-29%.”
In hypothetical head-to-heads, Clinton leads Trump by 4 percentage points, Cruz by 2 and Ben Carson by 1. Rubio leads Clinton by 3 points.
Those results show how firmly polarized the electorate already seems to be. Clinton’s support ranges in a narrow band, from 45% to 48%. Support for her prospective Republican opponents ranges from 44% for Trump to 48% for Rubio. Only 7% or 8% of voters describe themselves as undecided.
All the leads are within the survey’s margin of error of plus or minus 3 points.
The poll included 1,000 likely voters and was taken before Trump proposed banning Muslims from entering the United States until the government can figure out how to handle the situation.
USA Today notes that out of the GOP field, Trump is still at the top.
Cruz follows with 17 percent and Rubio with 16 percent. Dr. Ben Carson is at 10 percent, while Carly Fiorina lost 12 of her previous 13 points from a poll in September.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has four percent. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Ohio Gov. John Kasich hold two percent. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum are at one percent with Fiorina.
The margin of error was plus or minus 5 percent with 363 Democrat voters and 357 Republican voters.
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