Former President Donald Trump is bigger than the Republican Party in the minds of his youngest supporters in the battleground state of Arizona.
Older registered Republicans in the state, however, are less likely to stake out a Trump-over-GOP position.
About 53% of Trump supporters between 18 and 34 years old said they back the man and 43% back the party, according to the latest Arizona Public Opinion Pulse poll from Noble Predictive Insights.
Conversely, 67% of respondents 65 and older said they support the Republican Party and 23% said they are loyal first to Mr. Trump.
“Older Republicans have stuck with the GOP as individual leaders like Reagan, Bush and Trump have come and gone. The Republican Party, as an institution, matters to them,” said David Byler, NPI chief of research. “But younger Republicans haven’t built that bond. For young Republicans, Trump defines the party. And they’re loyal to him.”
The lion’s share of Democrats across all age brackets are more loyal to the party than President Biden.
Among registered Arizona voters, Mr. Trump, meanwhile, holds a 46%-38% lead over President Biden in a hypothetical one-on-one contest. The remaining 16% are undecided.
The survey of more than 1,000 registered voters was conducted Oct. 25-31 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
The GOP loyalty question included responses from 348 registered Republicans and had a margin of error of plus or minus 5.25 percentage points.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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