Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 06:49 pm
Republicans should be shaking in their shoes after a new poll of Ohio found that 10% of the state’s Republicans will vote for Hillary Clinton if Donald Trump is the Republican presidential nominee.
A new Monmouth University Poll of Ohio revealed that the Republican Party faces a mass exodus to Hillary Clinton if Donald Trump is their nominee, “If Trump emerges as the GOP nominee, fewer than two-thirds of Ohio Republicans (64%) say they would get behind him in a general election against Hillary Clinton. Another 10% would actually vote for Clinton, 12% would vote for an independent or 3rd party candidate, 6% say they would not vote at all, and 7% are not sure what they would do. Only 43% of Kasich supporters say they would definitely vote for Trump in the general election while 19% say they would vote for Clinton.”
Trump is going to lose more than one-third of Ohio Republicans if he wins the nomination. The Republicans that are most likely to defect to Clinton in November are political moderates. Kasich leads Trump 54%-30% among political moderates. What should be equally troubling to the Republican Party is that 12% of their own voters are willing to vote third party if Trump is the nominee.
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The results in Ohio were not unique. A poll of Michigan Republicans showed that a sizable percentage of GOP voters in the Great Lakes State would vote for Hillary Clinton if Donald Trump wins, “7-in-10 Michigan Republican primary voters (71%) say they would get behind him in a general election against Hillary Clinton. However, 9% would actually vote for Clinton. While the following responses were not offered in the poll question itself, 4% volunteer that they would vote 3rd party, 9% say they would not vote at all, and 7% are not sure what they would do.”
Trump loses more Republican voters in Ohio than he does in Michigan. Contrary to the Republican frontrunner’s claims, Donald Trump is not making the Republican Party bigger. Trump is increasing Hillary Clinton’s potential margin of victory in Ohio. Obama beat Romney 50%-48% in Ohio in 2012. If the 2016 contest is between Clinton and Trump, the former secretary of state could win as much as 60% of the vote in Ohio.
Republican primary voters could be handing the White House to Democrats by nominating Donald Trump. A Trump nomination could be worse for Republicans than anyone can imagine. Trump could backfire and push moderates to power Democrats to victory in November.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
