Poll shows 72 percent of Republicans would be satisfied with Trump as nominee

A strong majority of GOP voters would be satisfied with former President Trump as their party’s nominee, according to a new ABC News/Ipsos poll released Sunday, underlining Trump’s backing as he hopes for a strong showing in Monday’s Iowa caucuses.

About 72 percent of poll respondents said they’d be satisfied with Trump, and about two-thirds of the GOP electorate feel that the former president has the best chance of winning back the White House in November. Another two-thirds of respondents also said Trump is the strongest leader of the group.

The high satisfaction among Republicans for Trump comes as just 57 percent of Democrats feel the same about President Biden, the poll found.

Roughly 6 in 10 respondents also said they’d be satisfied with former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley as the party’s nominee, with just under half saying the same about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy.

Trump holds a significant lead over primary opponents in Iowa polling, with about 53 percent of Iowa Republicans backing Trump, according to The Hill/Decision Desk HQ average of polls.

A CBS News poll also released Sunday found Trump with the strongest support of the entire campaign now. That poll said Trump has 69 percent support among GOP voters overall, despite his criminal cases and other legal challenges.

The poll also found that a strong majority of Republicans agree with Trump on policy, including about 81 percent who agree with his comments that migrants are “poisoning the blood” of the country, language that has drawn comparisons to Nazi rhetoric.

However, Trump’s stated beliefs are not universal among all GOP voters. Republicans who describe themselves as not “MAGA” generally do not support Trump’s promises to leave NATO and claims about seeking revenge against political opponents, the poll found.

Most GOP voters also said that the upcoming Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary are not likely to sway their support for any candidate. Only 10 percent of respondents said the early contests would be a major factor for their vote.

That factor underlines strong support for Trump. About two-thirds of Trump voters classified their support as “very strong,” according to the CBS poll, compared with just 18 percent of non-Trump voters.

The ABC News/Ipsos poll surveyed 2,200 people in early January with a margin of error of 2.5 percent. The CBS News poll surveyed about 2,800 likely GOP voters last week with a margin of error of 2.5 percent.