Posted on 04/07/2016 2:38:31 PM PDT by Steelfish
Poll: Hefty Slice Of Virginia’s GOP Will Bolt If Trump Is Nominee
By Laura Vozzella April 7
RICHMOND — Nearly a third of Virginia Republicans will vote for Hillary Clinton, pick a third-party candidate or sit out the election if Donald Trump is the GOP’s nominee for president, a new poll finds.
Democrats in the key swing state are far less likely to defect if Clinton is the nominee, with just 9 percent saying they would vote for someone else or stay home on Election Day, according to a Christopher Newport University survey released Thursday.
Trump’s “loyalty gap,” as CNU researchers dubbed it, could cost the celebrity developer the race in Virginia, where the survey finds the former secretary of state leads Trump 44 percent to 35 percent.
The poll, conducted CNU’s Wason Center for Public Policy, comes just two days after Republicans and Democrats alike expressed dissatisfaction with their parties’ respective front runners by handing Wisconsin primary victories to Republican Ted Cruz and Democrat Bernie Sanders.
The CNU poll was designed to see how that intraparty angst would play out in Virginia if Trump and Clinton ultimately face off in the general election.
“We found a real loyalty gap,” Quentin Kidd, director of the Wason Center, said in a written statement. “If Donald Trump turns out to be the Republican nominee, it’s clear that a very significant proportion of Republican voters will either defect or stay home. But it looks like most Democrats — even those who backed Bernie Sanders in the March primary — would support Clinton.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
If true then the country is doomed whether Trump is the nominee or not. Voting for Hillary is an evil act, no matter the justificatio.
You need to get this Trump Kool-Aid about “manipulating” the delegates out of your mind. Ford did that to Reagan. The rules are the rules. Anyone who does not vote against Hillary or Bernie has no grounds to be called a conservative in any sense of that term
What a dopey, pretentious hat.
Actually that looks very much like Trump at 80
This kind of crap hasn’t happened in the last 70 yrs. What is wrong this time. No large group has ever threatened to bolt the party if their candidate did not win—and yes their have been smoke filled rooms, etc. If Trump or Cruz does not get the maj of delegates we go to a second ballot. If some of these idiots want a socialist/Communist leader then bolt and live to tell you kids and grand kids how stupid you were.
I agree with you, but the seething hatred towards Cruz of many Trumpsters outweighs ALL other considerations.
And more GOP votes will leave the GOP if Cruz is given the nomination at the convention instead of Trump.
No kidding Sherlock. In the Northern part of the Southern state of Virginia is a highway that circles the DC area called the beltway and is full of the leftists that got Terry McAuliffe voted in as governor. The same cozy GOPe crowd are likely the ones threatening to bolt if Trump is the Nominee.
True!
They want to see the corrupt status quo remain in Washington. Plain and simple as that. With Hillary it will remain the same
Their livelihood probably depends on the Govt directly or indirectly so they want the cabal to continue.
Hell with the rest of the country.
They are favoring Trump as are most liberals now.
Actually, Ford got almost a million more popular votes than Reagan in the primary of 76. And he was the incumbent. It was a very situation than this.
Trump has 2 million more votes than Cruz. Neither is an incumbent. So why pick Cruz?
I don’t think it will this time either.
The difference is we didn’t have polls for the last 70 years asking voters if you don’t get your way will you bolt the party. They are answering yes, in hopes that it will sway the outcome and their guy will be nominated.
But I do think if the GOPe steals the election from the candidates and puts someone else in, you will see a revolt.
Thank you for your gracious and thoughtful reply.
Either Trump will get the nomination and the #NeverTrump voters will refuse to vote for him or Cruz will get the nomination and the #OnlyTrump voters will refuse to vote for him.
We are pretty much screwed unless there are a lot more pissed off #OnlyBernie voters who refuse to vote for Hillary.
I had no idea there were any of those!
I can tell you from firsthand experience that a hefty slice of the Virginia GOP are federal teat suckers, the result of migration to the DC area with the massive expansion of government under the last two administrations.
These are the same people who made McAuliffe governor in a squeaker over Cuccinelli.
I could name names.
Like this didn’t happen last time with Mitt...
Trump might be able to reel back some votes if he makes Rubio Vp in exchange for his delegates. Rubio did very well on northern VA.
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