April 09, 2016
Pennsylvania Republicans seem to either really like or really dislike Donald Trump, and many still plan on voting for him come the state's April 26 primary — enough so that he's still the clear frontrunner in the state.
That's according to a new Muhlenberg College/Morning Call poll released Friday, which found the businessman and reality television star leads his rivals — Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich — by a hardly secure but still comfortable margin.
According to the poll's authors, Trump holds a "modest" advantage over the two, being the choice of 37 percent of 360 likely Republican voters surveyed. Cruz (29 percent) was second and Kasich (28 percent) was third.
Trump, who has widely been reported as a divisive force within the Republican party, was viewed as "very favorable" by 29 percent of respondents, the highest for any of the three candidates. Thirty percent viewed him as "very unfavorable," also the highest.
His popularity presents a possible conundrum for Republicans come November in a state that usually leans left nationally but is still considered a swing state.
Another recent poll from Quinnipiac University found John Kasich beating Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in potential head-to-head matchups.
But that same poll, like Friday's, found Kasich — considered the moderate in the GOP field — trailing behind Trump and Cruz among Republicans.
Nonetheless, the respondents of the Muhlenberg College/Morning Call survey seem confident in Trump. Forty-one percent believed Trump has the best shot to beat Clinton in November, while only 24 percent said Cruz and 18 percent said Kasich.
The poll was conducted by calling 211 landlines and 149 cell phones from April 1-6. It had a margin of error of 6 percentage points.
