--- description: More than half of Republican voters believe that the GOP candidate with the most votes should become the party’s nominee, a new poll finds title: Poll: GOP Voters Want Candidate With Most Votes as Nominee image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2917936a80a75d01/69888f6d428a9e6e65cd2409/donald-trump-rnc-poll.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [2016 Election](/tag/2016-election/) ## 2016 Election Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Poll: GOP Voters Want Candidate With Most Votes as Nominee  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 17, 2016 3:00 PM CUT  Donald Trump pauses as he speaks during a campaign event in Hartford, Connecticut on April 15, 2016. Donald Trump pauses as he speaks during a campaign event in Hartford, Connecticut on April 15, 2016.Bloomberg/Getty Images  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 17, 2016 3:00 PM CUT More than [half of Republican voters](http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/poll-62-say-republican-most-votes-should-be-nominee-n556846 "undefined") believe that the GOP presidential candidate with the most votes should become the party’s nominee if no candidate wins a majority of delegates before the convention, according to a new poll. Only 33% of Republicans say the nominee should be [picked by convention delegates](http://time.com/4296921/ted-cruz-wyoming/?iid=sr-link1 "undefined"), a new national NBC News/Wall Street _Journal_ poll has found. The survey results, released Sunday, comes after Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump warned of a “[rough July](http://time.com/4296913/donald-trump-rnc-delegates/?iid=sr-link2 "undefined")” if the Republican National Committee doesn’t “straighten out” its delegate process, which he has called “rigged.” The nominee must secure a majority — 1,237 — of delegates at the Republican convention. “I don’t want to waste millions of dollars going out to Wyoming many months before to wine and dine and to essentially pay off all these people because a lot of it’s a payoff,” Trump said Saturday on _Fox and Friends_. “You understand that, they treat ’em, they take ’em to dinner, they get ’em hotels. I mean the whole thing’s a big payoff, has nothing to do with democracy.” The poll was conducted between April 10 and April 14 among 319 Republican primary voters. The margin of error is +/-5.6%. \[[_NBC_](http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/poll-62-say-republican-most-votes-should-be-nominee-n556846 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4296975/republican-convention-delegates-poll/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4296975/republican-convention-delegates-poll/"},"headline":"Poll: GOP Voters Want Candidate With Most Votes as Nominee","datePublished":"2016-04-17T15:00:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T09:30:03.895Z","description":"If no one candidate gets the majority of the votes","url":"https://time.com/4296975/republican-convention-delegates-poll/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2917936a80a75d01/69888f6d428a9e6e65cd2409/donald-trump-rnc-poll.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2917936a80a75d01/69888f6d428a9e6e65cd2409/donald-trump-rnc-poll.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Holds Connecticut Campaign Rally","caption":"Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Holds Connecticut Campaign Rally","creditText":"Bloomberg/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/4296975/republican-convention-delegates-poll/","name":"Poll: GOP Voters Want Candidate With Most Votes as Nominee"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Trump & Clinton Expected to Win New York Primary","description":"While frontrunners Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are expected to win, taking New York on April 19th is still vital for both candidates.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/4Urlawax/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-04-12T19:20:42.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4Urlawax.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4296975/republican-convention-delegates-poll/","duration":"PT1M29S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4296975/republican-convention-delegates-poll/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```