--- title: Donald Trump Polling: Trump and Ted Cruz Face Trouble description: Whoever wins is going to have trouble unifying the party. canonical: https://time.com/4294342/donald-trump-ted-cruz-polling-general-election/ author: Alex Altman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-14T19:09:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:42:01.201Z article:section: Politics og:title: Why Polls Spell Trouble for Republicans in November og:description: Whoever wins is going to have trouble unifying the party. og:url: https://time.com/4294342/donald-trump-ted-cruz-polling-general-election/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a5159de399d02b6/69888f2ea988ca1b286b76ca/donald-trump-ted-cruz.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Donald Trump (L) shakes hands with Texas Senator Ted Cruz (R) following the CNN Republican Presidential Debate March 10, 2016 in Miami, Florida. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Polls Spell Trouble for Republicans in November twitter:description: Whoever wins is going to have trouble unifying the party. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a5159de399d02b6/69888f2ea988ca1b286b76ca/donald-trump-ted-cruz.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Polls Spell Trouble for Republicans in November > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Trump Restructuring His Disorganized Campaign [Watch (HLS stream): Trump Restructuring His Disorganized Campaign](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ygNpyUbw.m3u8) (0:43)  _Published 2016-04-11. Trump's setbacks are being blamed on his disorganized campaign and lack of knowledge about delegate rules._  by [Alex Altman](https://time.com/author/alex-altman/)  ## Alex Altman Altman is the executive features editor and deputy Washington bureau chief at TIME. Apr 14, 2016 7:09 PM UTC  Donald Trump (L) shakes hands with Texas Senator Ted Cruz (R) following the CNN Republican Presidential Debate March 10, 2016 in Miami, Florida. Donald Trump (L) shakes hands with Texas Senator Ted Cruz (R) following the CNN Republican Presidential Debate March 10, 2016 in Miami, Florida. RHONA WISE—AFP/Getty Images  by [Alex Altman](https://time.com/author/alex-altman/)  ## Alex Altman Altman is the executive features editor and deputy Washington bureau chief at TIME. Apr 14, 2016 7:09 PM UTC Saddled with two unpopular presidential frontrunners, the Republican Party may struggle to come together after a divisive primary no matter which candidate it chooses, according to the results of a new national survey. The Washington _Post_/ABC News [poll](https://www.washingtonpost.com/page/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2016/04/14/National-Politics/Polling/question%5F16174.xml?uuid=DJ281AIwEeaLsfEkpD-E3A) illustrates why both Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz project as weak general election candidates. A full two-thirds of U.S. voters have an unfavorable impression of Trump, compared to just 31% with a favorable view. Those figures make the New York businessman the most disliked “top-tier” presidential candidate in more than 30 years, [according to ABC](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trumps-unpopularity-stays-sky-high-cruz-hits-high/story?id=38370127)—trailing only former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke. More than half of respondents reported a “strongly unfavorable” view of Trump. Cruz isn’t as widely disliked, but he’s still far from popular with the general public. Thirty-six percent of respondent said they had a favorable opinion of the freshman Texan, with 53% holding an unfavorable view. Among the three Republicans remaining in the party’s presidential primary, only Ohio Gov. John Kasich has escaped the bruising process relatively unscathed, with an even 39% split. Then again, Kasich is only viewed favorably by 47% of Republicans, a statistic that illustrates why he lags far behind his rivals in the GOP nominating contest. Both Trump and Cruz are rated favorably by a solid majority of their own party, with Cruz’s 58% favorable rating among self-identified Republicans surveyed edging Trump’s 56%. Yet the two candidates’ dismal standing with political independents explains why Democrats would savor the prospect of facing either in November. About two-thirds of independents have an unfavorable opinion of Trump. Cruz is 25 points underwater with independents, with 56% reporting an unfavorable impression compared to 31% with a favorable one. All of this is great news for Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, who is not a broadly popular figure herself. (The last _Post/_ABC poll, conducted in March, pegged Clinton’s favorable rating at just 46%, compared to 52% unfavorable.) And it helps explains why many Republican operatives and donors see the general election as a near-lost cause, and are talking about [diverting funds from the presidential race to shore up the standing of congressional candidates](http://time.com/4293577/the-gops-plan-to-look-past-the-presidency-and-keep-congress/) in tight races. But while control of Congress is important, it will hard for GOP legislators to get anything done if its fractious factions can’t get along. That’s why the most notable figures in the poll may be the ones that underline the fissures in the party. The source of Cruz’s support is a good example. Of the three remaining GOP candidates, he’s the one with the broadest base in the party, earning a +20 favorable rating from GOP respondents. But he’s still [a sharply polarizing figure](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trumps-unpopularity-stays-sky-high-cruz-hits-high/story?id=38370127). While he’s +55 with self-identified “very conservative” Republicans, he’s just +7 among less conservative Republicans. Trump, in contrast, is underwater (-1) with “very conservative” Republicans, and +23 among their less conservative counterparts. [According to the _Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/04/14/republicans-like-donald-trump-and-ted-cruz-the-general-public-doesnt/), “nearly 3 in 10 Republicans only have a favorable impression of Trump, disliking both Cruz and Kasich.” Such statistics aren’t just a testament to Trump’s devoted following. They speak to the bitter split between the party’s blocs: the doctrinaire conservatives—largely evangelicals and Tea Party activists—who support Cruz, the mainline Republicans who see Kasich as their last hope and the disaffected whites who are the core of Trump’s fan base. If the party can’t coalesce once the primary is over, Republicans have bigger issues on their hands than losing an election in November. The survey was conducted from April 6-10 among a random national sample of 1,010 adults, including users of both landline and cellular phones, according to the _Post_ and ABC. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5%. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4294342/donald-trump-ted-cruz-polling-general-election/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4294342/donald-trump-ted-cruz-polling-general-election/"},"headline":"Why Polls Spell Trouble for Republicans in November","datePublished":"2016-04-14T19:09:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:42:01.201Z","description":"New figures reveal the fissures in the GOP","url":"https://time.com/4294342/donald-trump-ted-cruz-polling-general-election/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","Polls","ted cruz","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a5159de399d02b6/69888f2ea988ca1b286b76ca/donald-trump-ted-cruz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Altman","jobTitle":"Altman is the executive features editor and deputy Washington bureau chief at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/alex-altman/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a5159de399d02b6/69888f2ea988ca1b286b76ca/donald-trump-ted-cruz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump (L) shakes hands with Texas Senator Ted Cruz (R) following the CNN Republican Presidential Debate March 10, 2016 in Miami, Florida.","caption":"Donald Trump (L) shakes hands with Texas Senator Ted Cruz (R) following the CNN Republican Presidential Debate March 10, 2016 in Miami, Florida.","creditText":"RHONA WISE—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4294342/donald-trump-ted-cruz-polling-general-election/","name":"Why Polls Spell Trouble for Republicans in November"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Ted Cruz Locks up Majority of Delegates in Colorado","description":"Senator Ted Cruz has locked up the support of 21 out of a total 37 Colorado delegates to the Republican National Convention and could add more Saturday.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/cHGc5gxI/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-04-09T15:24:43.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/cHGc5gxI.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4294342/donald-trump-ted-cruz-polling-general-election/","duration":"PT1M5S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4294342/donald-trump-ted-cruz-polling-general-election/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Trump Restructuring His Disorganized Campaign","description":"Trump's setbacks are being blamed on his disorganized campaign and lack of knowledge about delegate rules.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/ygNpyUbw/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-04-11T14:04:42.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ygNpyUbw.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4294342/donald-trump-ted-cruz-polling-general-election/","duration":"PT43S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4294342/donald-trump-ted-cruz-polling-general-election/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```