Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton leads businessman Donald Trump by 9 points in Virginia, and would retain significantly more Democrats than Mr. Trump would Republicans if both secure their respective parties’ nominations, according to a poll released Thursday.
Overall, Mrs. Clinton had a 44 percent to 35 percent lead over Mr. Trump in a hypothetical general election match-up, according to the poll from the Wason Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University. Fourteen percent of likely voters said they wouldn’t vote for either candidate and 7 percent were undecided.
But 29 percent of likely Republican voters said they would not vote for Mr. Trump in the fall, while 90 percent of likely Democratic voters said they would “definitely” or “probably” support Mrs. Clinton.
Thirteen percent of GOP voters said they would vote for the Democrat, 13 percent said they would vote third party, and 3 percent said they would stay home.
“We found a real loyalty gap,” said Dr. Quentin Kidd, director of the Wason Center. “If Donald Trump turns out to be the Republican nominee, it’s clear that a very significant proportion of Republican voters will either defect or stay home. But it looks like most Democrats — even those who backed Bernie Sanders in the March primary — would support Clinton.”
The loyalty questions for Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton were asked of people who voted in the March 1 Republican and Democratic primaries in the state.
Mr. Trump won the Republican contest by about 3 points over Sen. Marco Rubio, 35 percent to 32 percent, while Mrs. Clinton easily defeated Sen. Bernard Sanders, 64 percent to 35 percent.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.