A new poll reveals the GOP may lose steam in the 2016 US presidential election if the Republicans decide to block party frontrunner Donald Trump.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Sunday showed a third of Republican voters who support Trump could turn their backs on the party in November's election if the business mogul is denied GOP nomination.
The results are bad news for Trump's rivals, mainly GOP runner-up Texas Senator Ted Cruz, as well as party elites opposed to the New York real estate billionaire, suggesting that an alternative Republican choice for the November 8 race to the White House, would have a tougher road against the Democrats.
"If it's a close election, this is devastating news" for the Republicans, said Donald Green, an expert on election turnout at Columbia University.
The poll, conducted between March 30 and April 8, said 66% of Republican voters would vote for the candidate who eventually wins the nomination, while the remaining third were split between a number of alternatives such as not voting, supporting a third-party candidate, and switching parties and voting for the Democratic nominee.
Trump has topped the national polls throughout most of the race for the Republican nomination, and has won more delegates than any other Republican so far.
A Reuters/Ipsos online poll from April 4-8 showed 42% of Republicans support Trump, compared with 32% for Cruz and 20% for Ohio Governor John Kasich.
In the past, some members of the US Republican National Committee suggested that the GOP candidate in the 2016 presidential election could be chosen by the party establishment and voters have no say in the matter.
Also, a number of Republican officials have floated the idea of contested convention in order to prevent Trump from securing the party's nomination.
Trump's campaign has been marred by his defamatory remarks against minorities in the US. His comments include calling for a total ban on Muslims from coming to America and forced deportation of Mexican migrants.