Poll: One-Third of GOP Voters Would Back Trump as Third Party Candidate

The Republican Party may face a difficult challenge if GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump isn’t chosen as the nominee and instead runs as a third-party candidate.

A new poll from Rasmussen Reports suggests more than a third of likely Republican voters plan to vote for Trump if he is a third-party candidate.

In fact, the poll found 36 percent of GOP voters said they would back Trump if he ran as a third party candidate and 29 percent of likely U.S. voters – from both parties – say they are somewhat likely to vote for Trump even if he isn’t chosen as the Republican nomine and instead runs as a third party candidate.

The survey found that roughly 19 percent of Democrats even said they describe themselves as likely Trump voters.

The poll results suggest that men are more likely than women to support an independent candidate.

Trump, according to the survey, is an attractive third party candidate to men and younger voters, but not so appealing to women and voters over age 40.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush got 56 percent support from those surveyed, saying he is the likely nominee. However, the poll found his last name gives drawback to some voters.

The survey results show that Hillary Clinton remains the Democratic frontrunner, but that the controversies surrounding her show that voters worry about whether or not Clinton is electable.

The Rasmussen Reports results were derived from a survey of 1,000 likely voters from July 28th to July 29th. The margin of error was plus or minus three precent.