Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton holds a solid lead over presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump in Wisconsin, according to a new poll released Wednesday.
In the latest Marquette poll of registered voters, Clinton leads Trump by seven percentage points (42-35 percent). Among likely voters, Clinton’s lead widens, winning 46 percent to Trump’s 37 percent, with 13 percent saying they will not support either candidate.
One major reason for Trump’s standing in the poll is his inability to bring Wisconsin Republicans behind his candidacy. Only 78 percent of Republicans say they will back him in a matchup against Clinton — a 9-point drop from Marquette’s March poll. Meanwhile, 84 percent of Democrats are behind Clinton, a 3-point uptick from March.
Clinton’s lead is also due to her pulling Sen. Bernie Sanders’ supporters into her column, even though she has work to do in winning them over further. Sixty-seven percent of self-described Sanders supporters say they plan to back Clinton, while only 4 percent say they will support the real estate mogul.
Meanwhile, 24 percent of Sanders’ supporters say they don’t plan to support either candidate, with another 5 percent who are undecided at the moment.
Support for Trump in the state among top Republican figures is fractured at best. Although House Speaker Paul Ryan and Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus back Trump as the nominee, Gov. Scott Walker, a one-time opponent of Trump, has continued to withhold his support.
As for Ryan himself, Wisconsinites overall believe he made the wrong decision in backing Trump. Fifty-four percent said that the Janesville native erred in supporting Trump, with only 38 percent arguing otherwise. Among Republicans, however, 69 percent believe that Ryan made the right call, with 23 percent believing he should have held out.
Both Trump and Clinton lost their respective primaries in Wisconsin to Sen. Ted Cruz and Sanders, respectively. Sanders holds a massive lead over Trump when polled head-to-head despite Clinton becoming the presumptive nominee last week, beating Trump by a 25-point margin (56-31 percent) among likely voters.
