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 Republican voters show no signs they are growing weary of the
brash real estate mogul, who has dominated political headlines and
the 17-strong Republican presidential field with his tough talk
about immigration and insults directed at his political rivals. The
candidates are vying to be nominated to represent their party in the
November 2016 general election.
Nearly 32 percent of Republicans surveyed online said they backed
Trump, up from 24 percent a week earlier, the opinion poll found.
Trump had nearly double the support of his closest competitor,
former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who got 16 percent. Retired
neurosurgeon Ben Carson was third at 8 percent.
Even when Trump was pitted directly in the poll against just his top
two competitors, 44 percent backed him. Bush won about 29 percent of
respondents, and Carson 25 percent.
 "He's not taking any guff from anybody," Dewey Stedman, 70, a
Republican from East Wenatchee, Washington, said of the
publicity-loving billionaire. "If you don't have something in your
brains, you're not going to have billions of dollars."
Trump has driven the debate on the campaign trail with a hard-line
immigration plan that calls for the deportation of undocumented
immigrants, amendment of the Constitution to end automatic
citizenship for all people born in the United States, and
construction of a wall along the border with Mexico.
He also has feuded with Bush and other rivals while boasting he
could easily beat Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. Trump's
campaign momentum has paid off with bigger crowds on the campaign
trail. On Friday night, he moved a planned rally in Mobile, Alabama,
to a football stadium seating more than 40,000.
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"It is an appeal to people that are just aggravated about what's
going on," Republican strategist Rich Galen said, adding that Trump
is a "novelty act" that voters will tire of.
Friday's results in the online rolling opinion poll are based on a
survey of 501 Republicans and have a credibility interval of plus or
minus 5 percent.
Separate results found Clinton leading among Democrats, though
support for her dipped below 50 percent to 48.5 percent.
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont came in second in the poll of
625 Democrats, followed by Vice President Joe Biden, who has not
entered the race. That survey had a credibility interval of plus or
minus 4.5 percent.
(Reporting by Emily Stephenson; Editing by John Whitesides and Ken
Wills)
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reserved.]
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