Anti-Trump Republicans’ plan to wrest the nomination from Donald Trump in a contested convention doesn’t seem to have the support of their voters.
According to a Bloomberg poll, 63% of Republicans who voted or plan to vote in their party’s caucuses or primaries think that whichever candidate has the most delegates should win the nomination—whether he wins the overall majority or not.
Donald Trump is currently leading the delegate count with 739—274 delegates ahead of Ted Cruz and almost 600 ahead of John Kasich. A candidate would need to win 1,237 delegates to claim the majority.
Many Republicans who don’t want to see a Trump nomination have thrown their support behind Cruz and Kasich, hoping that they can pare off enough delegates in the primaries to deny Trump a majority at the Republican National Convention in June.
In response to the growing consensus among anti-Trump Republicans for a contested convention, Trump has threatened that if he isn’t “automatically” granted the nomination, “you would have riots.” And while it’s a comment that’s received criticism from House Speaker Paul Ryan, Bloomberg’s poll shows that Republican voters agree that Trump should receive the nomination, majority or not.
The Bloomberg poll also found that 68% of Americans view Trump unfavorably—a share of voters that is 13 points higher than in November. And his unpopularity might be rubbing off on the Republican party more broadly, since the poll recorded the highest level of unfavorable ratings toward the GOP since at least 2009. 60% of Americans view the Republican Party unfavorably, compared to the Democratic Party’s 43%.
