Republicans who don't support Donald Trump are more likely to prefer either Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio should the race go to a one-on-one contest, or would even favor a contested convention rather than have Trump take the nomination, a new ABC News/Washington Post pollreveals.
By the numbers, Trump continues to lead overall in the poll of 1,000 Republican and Republican-leaning voters surveyed by phone on March 3-6:
- Donald Trump: 34 percent
- Ted Cruz: 25 percent
- Marco Rubio: 18 percent
- John Kasich: 13 percent
But in one-on-one matchups:
- Cruz leads Trump by 54-41 percent
- Rubio leads Trump by 51-45 percent
- Among non-Trump supporters, seven in 10 say they'd prefer Cruz or Rubio.
- Very conservative Republicans: Cruz over Trump, 60-34 percent; Rubio over Trump, 56-41 percent;
- Evangelical white Protestants: Cruz over Trump by 64-31; Rubio over Trump, 55-42 percent.
In January, Trump had a 16-point lead and Ohio Gov. John Kasich was in the single digits: