1 in 5 of GOP want Trump out
It’s long been known how Democrats feel about the Trump run for the presidency, but it’s only recently become clear how a growing percentage of Republicans feel. In a Reuters/Ipsos poll published today, one in five GOP voters want Trump to drop out of the race.
According to poll commentary carried on CNBC: “Some 19 percent think the New York real estate magnate should drop out, 70 percent think he should stay in and 10 percent say they ‘don’t know,’ according to the Aug. 5-8 poll of 396 registered Republicans. The poll has a confidence interval of six percentage points.
“Among all registered voters, some 44 percent want Trump to drop out. That is based on a survey of 1,162 registered voters, with a confidence interval of 3 percentage points. That is 9 points higher than his support for the presidency in the latest Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll registered on Monday.”
Trump’s popularity slide is attributed to a continuing string of verbal missteps that have dominated news cycles for more than a year. Supporters say they like Trump because he says what he means, but frequently his media surrogates are placed in the position of saying he didn’t mean what he said. This contradiction has begun to show in Trump poll numbers that have been on a fairly steep decline since the GOP’s Cleveland convention held in July.
Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton’s support shows signs of a sustained upward trajectory as revealed by Real Clear Politic’s summation of about a dozen national polls. Clinton is approaching an 8% lead over Trump in this averaging of polls.
If Clinton’s poll numbers hold up through the Labor Day weekend, history suggests Trump may not have sufficient time to reverse the trend and be a real contender in the Nov. 8 election. Current projections see Clinton easily surpassing the 270 electoral votes required to claim the presidency.
