Trump popular in GOP, but not overall, polls find
Supporters seem unfazed by his call to ban Muslims
WASHINGTON — The first measures of public opinion on Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s proposal to ban most Muslims from entering the country underscore the fears of the GOP establishment: The idea gets strong support within Republican ranks but alienates much of the rest of the electorate.
The strongest evidence comes from a new NBC/ Wall Street Journal poll, which finds that 42 percent of Republicans support Trump’s plan, compared with 36 percent who oppose it.
Among voters overall, 25 percent support Trump’s idea while 57 percent oppose it.
In the aftermath of Trump’s announcement Monday that he would call for a ban on most Muslims immigrating to or visiting the U.S., GOP congressional leaders and several of Trump’s rivals for the presidential nomination rejected the idea.
Since then, the chorus of criticism has grown muted amid evidence that many Republican voters agree with the businessman.
Even before the comments about Muslims, Trump was a polarizing figure in politics. He has led the GOP field, nationally and in most polls of earlyvoting states, for months.
In polls taken last weekend, he had the support of just over a third of GOP voters, with a CBS/New York Times survey released Thursday putting him at 35 percent.
Among voters at large, however, Trump is widely unpopular. The CBS/New York Times survey found that about 4 in 10 voters said they were afraid of what Trump might do if elected, while another quarter expressed concern.
Similarly, Gallup found in its most recent two-week tracking of public opinion that 32 percent of Americans had a favorable impression of Trump compared with 59 percent who had an unfavorable view. The period ran through Monday.
By a significant margin, Trump had the most lopsidedly negative image of any of the major candidates. The next-most-negative rating for a Republican belonged to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who was seen positively by 32 percent of those polled and negatively by 46 percent, Gallup found.
Americans were almost evenly divided on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, with 45 percent having a favorable impression of her and 49 percent a negative one.
The problem for GOP leaders who want to head off the possibility of Trump winning the party’s nomination is that his strongest supporters — blue-collar Republicans and conservative independents — mistrust the party’s establishment. Whenelected officials or media figures criticize Trump, that has tended to solidify his support among his backers.
Tribune Newspapers’ Kurtis Lee in Los Angeles contributed.