More Republicans favor Donald Trump’s proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the United States than oppose it, according to a new poll from NBC News and the Wall Street Journal.

According to the poll, 42% of Republican voters support the presidential candidate’s plan while 36% oppose it. When only Republican primary voters are included, support falls to 38% supporting and 39% opposing the plan.

Yet while more Republican voters seem comfortable with Trump’s controversial proposal, it is still fiercely opposed by most Americans. Fifty-seven percent of all respondents across party lines oppose Trump’s plan to bar Muslims from entering the United States and only 25% support it.



Trump’s call on Monday for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” has spurred international controversy and condemnation from many within the Republican party.

The poll is not the first to find widespread GOP support for Trump’s advocacy of imposing a religious test for anyone entering the United States. An online poll conducted by Bloomberg Politics on Wednesday found that 65% of likely Republican primary voters supported Trump’s plan.

Trump has also improved his standing in national polls since calling for the ban. In a new poll from the New York Times and CBS News released on Thursday, the real estate mogul received support from 35% of Republican primary voters nationally.

In an interview with the Guardian, Trump’s national policy adviser, Sam Clovis, defended the plan as a reasonable way for the United States to “stop, take a break, have a look and make sure everything is cool”.

However, many other Republicans condemned it. His rival for the GOP nomination, Senator Lindsey Graham, told the Guardian that “Donald Trump today took xenophobia and religious bigotry to a new level”, while former vice-president Dick Cheney said in a radio interview that Trump’s plan “goes against everything we believe in”.