A majority of registered Republican voters say that Donald Trump wasn't their party's best option for presidential nominee, a new poll from the Huffington Post and YouGov finds.
Fifty-four percent of such individuals responded that the ideal choice was someone other than Trump, compared with just 35 percent who said that the party couldn't have done better. In the same survey in June, the split between the two camps was an even 44 to 44 percent.
But in a reminder of how anti-Trump voters couldn't settle on a single alternative during the primary season, no candidate received more than 29 percent when those surveyed were asked who they would prefer if the process could be redone. Naturally, that candidate was Trump.
More from the Huffington Post:
Despite Republicans' unhappiness, they're no closer than ever to coalescing around an alternative. Asked who they'd like to see win their primary if they could start the process over, a 29 percent plurality of Republican and Republican-leaning voters picked Trump, with his nearest rival, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), trailing at 15 percent. Both numbers are identical to the results in June. Fourteen percent named Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). The remaining candidates were selected by fewer than 10 percent.
It seems like only yesterday that Trump's running mate, Indiana governor Mike Pence, vowed that the Republican ticket would bring the party together, rallying "never Trump" forces to their side. "We're going to earn the support of people who ought to be with us and aren't with us yet," said the vice presidential nominee in Georgia on Monday.
They're running out of time. Early general election voting begins in four states before the end of September.