Poll: Nearly half of voters think Trump will detonate a nuke

A majority of voters say Donald TrumpDonald TrumpClinton tweaks Cruz over Trump endorsement by retweeting old attack Trump accepts Cruz endorsement after saying he wouldn't Ana Navarro mocks Cruz for backing Trump MORE would allow the U.S. to default on its debt and that he would misuse the power of the presidency to punish his political opponents.

And nearly half of voters — 46 percent — say the GOP nominee would use a nuclear weapon to attack ISIS or another foreign enemy.

Those are the findings of a new poll conducted by SurveyMonkey on behalf of the Lincoln Leadership Initiative, a new group helmed by prominent Republican critics of the New York billionaire who are advocating for the Republican Party to dump Trump and return to its “foundational values.”

The poll also found that a majority of voters believe that as president, Trump would create a database to track Muslims and order military strikes against the families of terrorists.

Sixty-five percent said that there would be race riots in major cities during a Trump administration, and 44 percent believe Trump would authorize internment camps for illegal immigrants.

Those views are also held by a significant number of voters who are Trump supporters.

Among those who say they will vote for Trump, 48 percent say he’ll create a database to track Muslims; 36 percent say there will be race riots; 33 percent say the government would default on its debt; and 32 percent say Trump would punish his political opponents and authorize internment camps for illegal immigrants.

Only 22 percent of Trump supporters believe he will start a nuclear war.

“The poll shows that Donald Trump is getting his message across, because he has promised most of these goals as part of his platform,” said B. Jay Cooper, the former deputy White House press secretary and communications director for the Republican National Committee.

Cooper is one of more than 120 Republicans — including two sitting lawmakers — who signed a letter earlier this year to Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus urging the national party to cut Trump loose and focus on down-ballot races.

The other principals at the Lincoln Leadership Initiative, former Rep. Tom Coleman (R-Mo.) and Andrew Weinstein, the former spokesman for Newt Gingrich, also signed the letter.

The SurveyMonkey poll of 1,051 registered voters was conducted between Sept. 16 and Sept. 21 and has a 4-percentage-point margin of error.