WKU poll: Trump the runaway leader for Saturday’s Republican caucus in Kentucky

35% percent of respondents say they support businessman

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (March 1, 2016) — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump should easily take Kentucky on Saturday during the Republican caucus, according to poll results from the Western Kentucky University Social Science Research Center.

The Big Red Poll, which consisted of a survey of 532 likely Republican caucus voters from Feb. 22-26, found that 35 percent said they support Trump. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was second, with 22 percent of respondents saying they support him, followed by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (15 percent), Ben Carson (7 percent) and Ohio Gov. John Kasich (6 percent).

Of the respondents, 36 percent self-identified as somewhat conservative, 39 percent as very conservative and 23 percent as moderate. Trump led among all three categories, with 40 percent of moderates saying they support him, 34 percent of somewhat moderates supporting him and 33 percent that identify as conservative supporting him.

When asked if they had a favorable or unfavorable view of candidates, Carson led with 68 percent of respondents having a favorable view of him, compared to 17 percent saying they had an unfavorable view. Rubio was second in favorable views (58 percent), followed by Trump (53), Cruz (51) and Kasich (47). Trump led with the highest percentage of respondents who have an unfavorable view of the candidate (45 percent), followed by Cruz (41), Rubio (32) and Kasich (27).

When asked what matters when picking a candidate, 26 percent said character was most important, 22 percent said ideology, 18 percent said “telling it like it is,” 13 percent said experience and 9 percent said shared religious values.

Overall, 57 percent of respondents said they are frustrated with, or angry, with the government, while only 5 percent said they are content with the government.

Jobs and the economy were the most important issue facing the country, according to 46 percent of respondents.

Also, 62 percent of respondents support a temporary ban on non-U.S. citizen Muslims entering the country and 60 percent said immigrants were taking jobs from U.S. citizens.