One in three Republican voters say they would have preferred a different candidate to Donald Trump for the upcoming presidential election.
In March, the former president won enough primary races to secure the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential election.
However, according to a survey of 1,003 Americans by Canadian polling firm Leger, Trump does not command the full support of his base and 33 percent of this demographic would have preferred another politician. Meanwhile, this proportion is higher (47 percent) among Republican voters aged 18-34 years old.
The survey was conducted between May 24-May 26. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.09 percent.
Newsweek contacted a representative for Trump by email outside of business hours to comment on this story.
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The poll comes as Trump has been hit by protests during primary season. Some people are voting for other candidates in primary votes to express opposition to him.
Earlier this month, for example, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who dropped out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination in March, won 20 percent of the vote in Maryland, and 17.8 percent in Nebraska. While Trump still won with a resounding majority, it showed he does not have the full support of Republicans in those states. A similar pattern emerged in other states and Joe Biden, the Democratic candidate for the election and the incumbent president, has too been hit with protest votes in his own primary races.
Meanwhile, Trump has now been found guilty on all 34 counts in his high-profile hush money trial concerning payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels. While the Leger poll was carried out before Trump was found guilty, other polls have suggested that the guilty verdict will upend his campaign with some voters appearing to switch their allegiance to Biden, according to post-verdict polls.
A Morning Consult poll of 2,200 registered voters, for instance, found that 45 percent would vote for Biden while 44 percent would vote for Trump. The poll, conducted on May 31, showed Biden gaining 3 percentage points up from May 28, when the firm conducted their last poll.
Since his guilty verdict, some Republicans have also come out against the Republican and experts suggested Trump's campaign could be adversely impacted.
Nevertheless, polls are still tight and when Trump and Biden face each other on November 5 in a rematch of the 2020 election, the verdict is expected to be close.
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Kate Plummer is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on U.S. politics and national affairs, and ... Read more