Getty Poll: Trump nomination sparks more fear than hope

The fact that Donald Trump is the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party scares voters more than it surprises them, according to an NBC Neww/SurveyMonkey poll released Tuesday.

Forty-seven percent of respondents said their reaction to Trump becoming the presumptive nominee was fear. Just 26 percent said they were hopeful, while another 21 percent said they were angry and 16 percent were surprised.


Thirty-five percent of respondents would be scared to see Hillary Clinton win the Democratic presidential nomination, while 29 percent would be hopeful, 22 percent would be angry and just 7 percent would be surprised.

The former secretary of state tops Bernie Sanders in the national poll by 12 percentage points among Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters, 53 percent to 41 percent with 5 percent undecided.

Sanders has closed the gap by 2 points in the past week. Despite that, however, voters overwhelmingly believe Clinton will ultimately clinch the nomination. Eighty-four percent said they think Clinton will win the nomination, while just 15 percent believe Sanders can still win.

In a general-election match-up against Trump, Sanders fares far better. The Vermont senator leads the real estate mogul by double digits, 53 percent to 40 percent. Clinton, on the other hand, bests Trump by just 5 points, 49 percent to 44 percent.

The poll of 12,714 adults, 11,089 of whom say they are registered to vote, was conducted May 2-8. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.3 percentage points among registered voters and plus or minus 2 percentage points in the Democratic sample.