Are you a ‘MAGA Republican,’ poll asks
As Trump surges in the polls and Republican strategists prepare to make hay of the fact that he’s a “Never Trumper,” they may be finding themselves in some trouble with a different question: Do your voters really identify as Republicans at all, let alone “conservative” ones?
A new poll conducted by Public Policy Polling finds that roughly three-quarters of Republican voters say they consider themselves “conservative” and that only 39% would identify as “Republicans.”
What would a Republican look like if they said they were a “Never Trumper”? Just 8% of Republicans said they’d prefer a candidate who advocates social and economic conservatism, and just 12% said they would prefer a candidate who embraces traditional values like traditional marriage. Just 20% of Trump supporters would prefer a candidate who’s open about their private sexual behavior and just 3% of Trump’s supporters would prefer someone who’s pro-choice.
Meanwhile, the survey finds that voters without a party preference consider themselves conservative (73%) or “libertarian” (28%). (By contrast, 61% of Republicans said they consider themselves “conservative” and 11% said they consider themselves “Libertarian.)
Interestingly, when asked if they’ve been to a “conservative” church or a “Liberal” church, voters without a party preference said they’ve attended a “conservative” church (43%) and a “Liberal” church (12%). Yet just 12% of Republicans said they’d attended a liberal church or a “Christian” church and 2% of Republicans said they’d attended a mosque.
The pollsters also interviewed voters who identified as Democrats or “independent,” but the poll found that these voters were much more likely to be conservative. They considered themselves “conservative” (82%) and “