There is little doubt that Donald Trump will have the most delegates when the GOP convention kicks off in Cleveland this summer, and that has a lot of Republicans officials worried -- worried enough to initiate a "stop Trump" movement. But as this poll shows, that could be just as bad for them as having Trump at the head of their ticket (or worse).
About 62% of base Republican voters say the person who has the most delegates should win the nomination -- and 54% say it would be unacceptable for Trump to have the most delegates and not get the nomination. And while some politicians are hoping for a "white knight" (someone not in the race) to grab the nomination away from Trump or Cruz, that option is liked even less by base voters. About 71% would find that unacceptable.
This illustrates the dilemma Republicans find themselves in. If they nominate Trump (who is very unpopular with the public), they would probably lose (and down-ballot Republicans could be hurt). But if they don't nominate him, they probably also would lose (because many might abandon the party) -- and again, down-ballot Republicans could suffer.
These charts are from a recent NBC News / Wall Street Journal Poll -- done between April 10th and 14th of a random national sample of 319 GOP primary voters, with a margin of error of 5.6 points.
