The 2016 Republican polls show that Donald Trump continues to hold a commanding lead and could be on his way to the biggest primary victory of all time, but would still have big problems come November.
Trump has been the Republican frontrunner since just after his official entry into the race last year. As the Iowa caucus and the official start of the 2016 Republican primary draw ever closer, it seems that no candidate will be able to put him off that lead.
Republican polls show that Donald Trump holds a steady lead over Ted Cruz in Iowa and a more commanding lead in New Hampshire, the second state to vote.
Poll: Trump holds commanding lead in New Hampshire https://t.co/qb3jJ91bMt pic.twitter.com/54VXKnvbXt
— The Hill (@thehill) January 29, 2016
For New Hampshire, Trump holds 27 percent while the next closest — Ted Cruz, John Kasich, and Jeb Bush — hover around 12 percent.
“Donald Trump’s loyal 27 percent continues to stand tall in New Hampshire,” David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center in Boston, told the Boston Globe . “The 27 percent isn’t a skyscraper, but it towers over the four candidates vying for second place. One of those four candidates needs a big Iowa surprise to create momentum so that he can break into the 20 percent range in New Hampshire.”
Donald Trump is dominating polls despite what is normally a losing attribute for Republican candidates. Because Iowa is a heavily religious state, candidates with a strong faith-based background are traditionally the ones to lead, even when they are weaker nationally. But Trump ranks last when voters are asked which candidate they believe is a religious person.
The Daily Caller reported on a recent poll.
“A Pew Research Poll released Wednesday found that only 30 percent of American adults say Trump is a religious person –behind all other presidential candidates from both sides of the aisle. Out of those polled, 37 percent say they believe Trump is ‘Not at all’ religious, a higher number than any candidate.
“Republicans, more than Democrats, think Trump is religious. About 44 percent of Republicans say Trump is a ‘very’ or ‘somewhat religious’ person.”
“By contrast, fully eight-in-10 Republicans say they think Ben Carson is a religious person, three-quarters view Ted Cruz as a religious person, and seven-in-10 say the same about Marco Rubio,” Pew states .
Some believe the Republican polls point to what could be a historic victory for Donald Trump. Noah Millman of The Week predicted that if Trump wins in Iowa and New Hamphire as expected, he may end up winning all 50 states, the biggest victory ever for a non-incumbent.
“If Trump wins both Iowa and New Hampshire, and then goes on to win South Carolina and Nevada — as he is favored to do — he could very conceivably win every contest, or at worst lose a favored son state or two like Cruz’s Texas. Nobody has run the table like that — not Nixon in 1968, nor Reagan in 1980, nor Bush in 2000,” he wrote.
It may get considerably harder after that. While Trump dominates Republican polls, it appears that is not translating to a strong performance in the general election.
“Roughly half (52%) think Trump would make a poor or terrible president, with 38% saying he would be terrible.” https://t.co/TSDsrU5qHW
— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) January 24, 2016
Donald Trump continues to struggle bringing in voters outside his base, with half of Republicans not supporting Trump now saying they won’t vote for him, The Hill reported. And a new ABC News/Washington Post poll found that a majority of Americans believe either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders would defeat Trump in the general election.
[Photo by Mic Smith/AP Photo]