More than half of Republican voters believe the GOP candidate who enters the convention with the most delegates should emerge from it as the party's presidential nominee, a new poll shows.

According to the latest Rasmussen Reports survey, 51 percent of likely Republican voters would like to avoid a lengthy battle on the convention floor by nominating the candidate with the highest delegate count in July.

The poll results run against the idea proposed by some party elites of a brokered convention that could end with someone other than a one of the remaining White House hopefuls as the nominee.

Thirty-four percent of respondents in the same survey said delegates at the convention should be free to vote for whomever they want, despite existing rules that require some delegates to support the candidate who won their state on the first ballot.

Four percent of voters said party leaders should choose the nominee, while 6 percent would prefer an alternative way of deciding who will represent the GOP in the general election.

The survey of 1,000 likely U.S. voters was conducted March 30-31. Results contain a margin of error is plus or minus 3 percent.