Exit Polls Show Divided GOP

Donald Trump’s rhetoric may have offended some Americans, but the GOP nominating process has been even more divisive.

Exit polls from Tuesday’s primaries — in which Trump swept all five states — show a common sentiment across a majority of voters: Fifty-eight percent of voters in Pennsylvania said the primary process is dividing the Republican Party, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Not only do voters think the process is divisive, but more than half believe the system used to pick candidates for the Oval Office is “rigged.”

Additionally, more than two-thirds want to see the process changed, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Voters’ beliefs echo Trump and Sen. Bernie Sanders, who both say the system is against them in favor of Establishment candidates. The criticism has started a nationwide debate over the current process, causing an immense division among Republicans.

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The division could pose a threat to Trump’s future success in the race. One-quarter of Republican primary voters in Maryland and Connecticut, and almost that many in Pennsylvania, said they would not vote for Trump in a general election. This could hinder Trump’s top task if he becomes the nominee: unifying his own party, Reuters reported.

Despite some unfavorable numbers for Trump, exit polls show that his ideas are popular among voters. Exit polls from Pennsylvania on Tuesday show 69 percent support “temporarily banning Muslims who are not U.S. citizens from entering the U.S.,” the Washington Examiner reported.

58 percent of voters in Pennsylvania said the process is dividing the Republican Party.

Sen. Ted Cruz sparks even more friction within the party. Even more of those voters surveyed in Maryland, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania said they would not support Cruz if he were the nominee come November.

Voters in the three surveyed states said that if no candidate enters the party’s nominating convention this summer with a majority of delegates, then the nomination should go to whoever wins the most votes during the primary season,WSJ reported.

Trump had won approximately 2.3 million more votes than Cruz going into Tuesday’s primaries.

Not only are voters dissatisfied with the process, but 80 percent are also unhappy with Washington as a whole. Republican voters in Pennsylvania said they were disappointed with their own party and 59 percent feel betrayed by GOP political leaders, according to WSJ.