Snap polls conducted after Republican frontrunner Donald Trump said he'd like to ban all Muslims from the United States show support for the proposal.
Almost two-thirds of likely Republican primary voters support the proposal to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. for an unspecified period of time, according to an online survey from Bloomberg Politics. While 65 percent said they favor the proposal, 22 percent said they oppose it while 13 percent said they don’t know.
Even with added context, with the pollsters explaining both sides of the argument, the numbers remained almost unchanged.
Those polled were later asked whether the proposal makes it more likely they'll vote for Trump.
The SurveyUSA poll also asked people if they thought the Islamic religion is peaceful or violent, and pluralities of voters said they believe it is violent.
In general polls, Trump has taken an even bigger lead.
In the latest CBS News poll, conducted in October and published this week, Trump garnered 35 percent support among Republican primary voters, with Ted Cruz in second with 16 percent. The 35 percent is the highest support Trump has reached yet.
Trump has retained a big pack of support in North Carolina, the Public Policy Institute said in a poll conducted from Dec. 5 to Dec. 7. He garnered 33 percent support, versus 16 percent for Cruz.
Trump doubled down on his proposal in new interviews, telling CNN that his friends that are Muslim support the ban.
“Many Muslim friends of mine are in agreement with me. They say, ”Donald, you brought something up to the fore that is so brilliant and so fantastic,” Trump said.
He added that “one of the most important people in Middle East” thanked him for his plan.
Asked about the criticism he’s been recieving from officials and pundits, Trump responded: “The group that is not criticizing me is the public. The public agrees with what I said. They saw those two animals go out last week and shoot people.”
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