A national poll released on Monday showed that real estate mogul and presidential candidate Donald Trump not only leads the Republican pack but also has received a huge boost to his favorability among the party.
Fifty-two percent of voters now view Trump as favorable while 35 percent view him unfavorably, according to the latest Monmouth University poll. Trump has come a long way since he announced his candidacy. Before announcing in June, Trump’s favorability was at 20 percent. It climbed to 40 percent three weeks ago.
In terms of voters, Trump now has a more than 2-to-1 advantage over his closest rivals, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Trump had the support of 26 percent Republicans and Republican-leaning voters, according to the poll.
Bush polled at 12 percent and Walker at 11 percent. No other candidates polled in double digits. Five candidates polled at 1 percent or less.
The poll is key because New York Magazine reported on Monday it will likely be one of five national polls Fox News will use to determine which 10 candidates will be allowed to participate in the first GOP presidential debate on Thursday.
“Republican support for Donald Trump just continues to grow with no clear sense of who his constituency really is,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, in a statement. “This makes it very difficult for his opponents to figure out how to take him on in the upcoming debate.”
The poll was conducted among 1,203 voters, 423 of whom were Republican primary voters, from July 30 to Augu. 2. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.8 percent. The poll was conducted by live interviewer via landline and cell phone in English.
