GOP pollster: Trump would be in ‘big trouble’ on second ballot

A GOP pollster predicted on Sunday that if Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump doesn’t win the party’s nomination on the first round of voting at the convention, he would be in “big trouble.”

{mosads}“If you ask me to bet, he should win on the first ballot or come close enough that he could deal for those delegates to be able to win on a first ballot,” said John McLaughlin in a radio interview with John Catsimatidis. “If he doesn’t, he’s in big trouble, because he’s been out-organized” by the Cruz campaign.

“You’ve got the [Texas Sen. Ted] Cruz campaign putting in people that may be bound to Trump on the first ballot, but on the second ballot they’re gonna leave Donald Trump,” McLaughlin said.

McLaughlin added that Trump needs at least 68 percent of the remaining delegates to lock up the nomination on the first ballot. To do this, the pollster argued that Indiana will be the most important state following New York, where Trump is expected to win big on Tuesday.

“If Cruz beats him there then it’s gonna be harder for Trump to win,” he said. “If Trump wins Indiana, then he’s on his way to doing very well in California and securing enough delegates.”