With the June 7 California primary shaping up to potentially decide the Presidential nominations, a new poll shows Sen. Ted Cruz gaining on billionaire developer Donald Trump.
The latest USC Dornsife/LA Times Poll released Sunday found 37 percent of Republicans said they would support Trump while 30 percent said they would support Cruz. Twelve percent said they would vote for Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
But among the voters most likely to turn out, the poll showed the race between Trump and Cruz nearly tied, with Trump at 36 percent versus Cruz at 35 percent.
“Donald Trump is still the Republican front runner, both in California and nationally, but it appears that there may be a ceiling on his support,” said Dan Schnur, director of the Unruh Institute of Politics at USC. “About 35 to 40 percent of primary voters are strong supporters of his candidacy, but there is still great resistance among the majority of Republicans.”
If Trump wins the nomination at the Republican National Convention in July, 42 percent of registered Republican voters in California would offer him their “enthusiastic support,” the poll found. Another 27 percent said they would “reluctantly vote for him,” and 27 percent said they would “refuse to vote for him.”
Among all California voters, Trump finds even less support, with 73 percent of all likely voters viewing him unfavorably. Voters were especially critical of his plan to build a wall along the Mexican border, with 66 percent opposing it.
“These are the types of things that have kept Trump from expanding his support base,” said Schnur. “If he does become the Republican nominee, the fact that so many GOP voters are unenthusiastic or opposed to his candidacy will be a huge obstacle in the general election.”
The latest USC poll, the largest statewide survey of registered voters, was conducted March 16-23 among 1,500 voters. Results have a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.
