US Democrats appear unified, Republicans more fractured

Despite the verbal jabs between US Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton and feisty challenger Bernie Sanders, Democrats in general are more upbeat about both of their candidates than Republicans, according to a Gallup report.

Based on interviews conducted from March 31 to April 6, seven in 10 Democrats have a positive view of each of their party's two contenders, Xinhua cited the poll as saying on Friday.

Clinton has a little more negative baggage, with a 26 percent unfavourable rating compared with Sanders' 13 percent.

Sanders has a somewhat higher percentage responding "never heard of/Don't have an opinion." But they are both well-liked by the Democrats, Gallup found.

This is significantly different from the Republican side, where the percentage of Republicans who like Donald Trump is 55 percent and those who like Ted Cruz is 52 percent.

Plus, Trump's unfavourable rating among Republicans is 40 percent, while Cruz's is almost as high at 38 percent.

On the Republican side, there is much less love. Only 28 percent have a favourable view of both Trump and Cruz.

Almost half of Republicans like one but not the other -- 23 percent have a favourable view of Trump but not Cruz, and the same percentage have a favourable view of Cruz but not Trump.

Eleven percent have unfavourable opinions of both, the poll showed.

Additional analysis conducted using separate data shows that Democrats are more likely than Republicans -- especially Trump supporters -- to say they would vote for the "other" candidate in their party, should their preferred candidate lose the nomination, according to the survey.

Further, Republican enthusiasm has been waning over the past three months, and Republicans have become less likely to say the election process is working the way it should, Gallup found.

All of this does not bode well for Republicans in the general election, according to Gallup's analysis.

Republicans to date are clearly more fractured and certainly less positive about Trump and Cruz, the two leading candidates for their party's nomination.

Carried forward, this means that the Republicans could face greater challenge to motivate voters in the presidential elections this fall, Gallup said.