Half of Voters Would Be 'Embarrassed' by Trump as President, Poll Finds

Half of voters say they would be "embarrassed" if Trump wins the election.

ByABC News
December 22, 2015, 6:04 AM

— -- Fifty percent of American voters say they would be “embarrassed” if Donald Trump were president, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released this morning.

The current Republican frontrunner, whose 28 percent support in this poll tops his competition for the GOP nomination, would make 23 percent of voters “proud,” the poll found. Other recent national polls have found Trump’s lead for the GOP nomination at more than 20 percentage points.

Six in 10 women say they would be “embarrassed” of Trump, compared to only four in 10 men. Forty-seven percent of independents say they would be “embarrassed” by Trump, but 44 percent of Republicans say they would be proud of him.

In the race for the GOP nomination, the poll finds Sen. Ted Cruz gaining on the real estate mogul, with 24 percent support -- his highest in any national poll yet. Sen. Marco Rubio earns 12 percent support and Ben Carson takes 10 percent. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie climbed to 6 percent in the new poll, his highest national support in almost six months.

Cruz’s increase in support is bolstered by tea party supporters, evangelicals and men. The poll also shows Rubio and Carson sinking 5 and 6 points over the last month, respectively.

On the other hand, 35 percent of voters say they would be “embarrassed” by Hillary Clinton as president, compared to 33 percent of voters who say they would be “proud.” The rest said they would be “neither.”

Clinton leads Sanders for the Democratic nomination by 31 points -- reaching 61 percent support, her highest in almost two months of polling.

In a hypothetical match-up between Clinton and Trump, Clinton would win by 7 points, thanks to big leads among women and those with college degrees, according to the poll.