Poll: Majority of Republican Voters Say Party Should Back Trump in a Contested Convention

In the event of contested Republican convention — meaning no candidate reaches the 1,237-delegate threshold — the majority of GOP voters want the party to back front-runner Donald Trump if he has the plurality of delegates by July, a new Monmonth University poll reveals.

According to the poll, which was released Wednesday, 54 percent of GOP-leaning voters would want the party to select Trump as its nominee if no candidate is selected on the convention's first ballot. Thirty-four percent said they would like to see a different candidate nominated, while 5 percent said it depends and 7 percent said they weren't sure.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

If Trump was not selected, 33 percent of respondents said they would like to see Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) become the nominee, while 23 percent selected Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was cited by 10 percent of respondents, while just 5 percent chose retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) were also chosen by respondents. Eighteen percent said they weren't sure.

When asked about party alliance in the case that the Manhattan mogul does not become the GOP's nominee, 43 percent of respondents said they would continue to support the party. Seven percent said they would vote for the Democratic nominee, 10 percent said they would vote for an independent, while a whopping 27 percent said they just wouldn't vote at all. Only 10 percent were unsure.

Regarding the recent violence at Trump's campaign rallies, the poll found that 87 percent of registered Republican-leaning voters think Trump is responsible either "a little" or "a lot," with 60 percent citing the latter.

The poll of 252 Republican registered voters was conducted between March 17-20 and has a margin of error of +/- 6.2 points.

—

Follow the author of this story on Twitter and Facebook:

Follow @chrisenloe

[facebook //www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=