Donald Trump remains firmly ensconced as the Republican front-runner, the only candidate with a mathematically plausible path to clinching the nomination on the first ballot. Yet his candidacy is leaving the party so divided that its nomination may not be worth much come November.
Consider one poll number that is on the surface encouraging for Trump: 54 percent of Republicans told Monmouth University that the Republican National Convention should nominate him if he has the highest delegate count, even if it is less than an absolute majority.
That's been Trump's argument: he faced 16 well-known Republicans, beat them and should get the nomination on the basis of no one else getting as many delegates as he's won through the primaries and caucuses, rules be damned.
Look deeper and this poll isn't all good news for Trump, however. While only a little more than a third of Republicans overall want the nominee chosen at a contested convention, Republicans supporting candidates other than Trump feel differently.
In fact, 55 percent of anti-Trump Republicans want the convention to nominate someone else even if he has a plurality of delegates. Some 47 percent of Trump supporters said they'd bolt the GOP or stay home under this scenario. Other polling has found high percentages of anti-Trump Republicans making similar threats if the billionaire is the nominee.
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04.19.2024