Trump leads GOP field in latest California poll but faces wall in some areas

Donald Trump holds a seven-point lead over Ted Cruz in a new Califoia Field Poll, but the Republican presidential front-ruer is having a tough time scaling the wall in Los Angeles County, according to a new Field Poll.

The Field Research Corporation poll released Thursday shows Trump holding 39 percent of the support among Republicans identified as likely voters in the June 7 primary, while the Texas senator has the backing of 32 percent. Ohio Gov. John Kasich trailed both with 18 percent, while 11 percent remained undecided.

One thing the real estate mogul has going is that much of his support is coming from people who previously backed former Gov. Aold Schwarzenegger in the state’s recall of Gov. Gray Davis in 2003.

Coincidentally, Schwarzenegger has been tapped to replace Trump on NBC’s “The Celebrity Apprentice.”

Schwarzenegger, who is backing Kasich, ran as a political outsider on a crowded ballot in 2003, when anger at Davis resulted in a recall election.

In the new poll, 54 percent of those likely Republican voters who backed Schwarzenegger now support Trump. Cruz had the backing of only 21 percent that supported the former goveor and movie star.

Perhaps troubling for Trump — who canceled a speaking engagement Friday at his golf course in Rancho Palos Verdes to stump in New York — is that he trails Cruz by 11 points in the state’s most populous county, Los Angeles.

The poll was conducted between March 14 and April 4, and has a 3.2 percent margin of error. The questions were asked on the heels of what has been widely regarded as Trump’s worst week of the campaign after his campaign manager was charged with battery against a reporter, and Trump said women who have abortions — if the procedure were made illegal — should be punished.

Still, Mark Vafiades, chairman of the Los Angeles County Republican Party, said the polling is too far ahead of the primary to reveal much.

“It seems like Trump has a rough week, and I know people say you either love Trump or hate him, and you either love Cruz or hate him, but that’s not true,” Vafiades said. “People can go back and forth between the two.”

In surrounding counties — including San Beardino, Riverside and Orange — Trump has his widest lead: 45 percent to 23 percent.

The three candidates are vying for the Republican presidential nomination in Cleveland this summer and Trump leads with 743 delegates to 517 for Cruz. A candidates needs 1,237 delegates to win the nomination outright and avoid a contested or brokered convention.

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If it goes to a brokered or contested convention, 52 percent of Republicans in the poll believe the nomination should be given to Trump as the delegate leader, while 36 percent say someone else should be chosen.

Califoia is the big prize with 172 delegates at stake, but they are divvied up by congressional districts.