Terrible news for the GOP establishment out of the CBS News/New York Times poll. Donald Trump is solidifying his hold on the party.
Forty-six percent of primary voters said they would like to see Mr. Trump as the party’s nominee, more than at any point since he declared his candidacy in June. Twenty-six percent favored Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, and 20 percent backed Gov. John Kasich of Ohio.
Fully three-quarters of Republican primary voters expect Mr. Trump to be their party’s nominee.
What’s more, when pollsters asked Republicans what they would do if each of the three candidates remaining became their party’s nominee, Trump got the greatest number of “enthusiastically supports” (35 percent, to Cruz’s 29% and Kasich’s 27%), and — get this — more Republicans said they would not support Cruz at all (19%) than feel that way about Trump (17%). Only 13% said they would not support Kasich under any circumstances.
Conservatism, Inc. may be freaking out about Trump, and they are right to. The GOP is becoming his party. Their favored candidate to stop Trump now, Ted Cruz, is less popular among Republican voters than Trump.