Pew Plots Rise of Trump

Related: Trump, Clinton in Dead Heat in Swing States

In March 2015 only 1% of Republicans polled by Pew Research Center picked Donald Trump as their first choice for President. Thirteen months later that number was 44%. Now, says Pew, 88% say they will support their presumptive nominee as the Republicans gather in Cleveland to pick the nominee.

According to Pew, the majority of Republican voters surveyed between March 2015 and April 2016 changed their minds at least once, and a quarter of them changed their minds twice.

But Trump's support even now remains fluid.

While 79% of those who did not support Trump throughout the primaries say they will now back him in the general election, only a little over half (53%) say they are certain they will ultimately do so.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.