Donald Trump
Donald TrumpReuters

A third of Republican voters who support Donald Trump could turn their backs on their party in November's presidential election if he is denied the nomination in a contested convention, a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Saturday found.

The poll, conducted between March 30 and April 8, asked Trump’s Republican supporters two questions: if Trump wins the most delegates in the primaries but loses the nomination, what would they do on Election Day, and how would it impact their relationship with the Republican Party?

66 percent said they would vote for the candidate who eventually wins the nomination, while the remaining third were split between a number of alternatives such as not voting, supporting a third-party candidate, and switching parties and voting for the Democratic nominee, according to Reuters.

Meanwhile, 58 percent said they would remain with the Republican Party. Another 16 percent said they would leave it, and 26 percent said they did not know what they would do with their registration.

The poll comes after party bigwigs recently met to lay out a plan to derail Trump’s path to the Republican nomination.

Aside from coordinating efforts to prevent Trump’s nomination, conservative activists and party leaders were reportedly also mulling an option that was unthinkable just half a year ago: breaking with the Republican Party and launching an independent, third party bid for the White House.

Trump predicted last month there would be riots outside the convention if he was blocked, noted Reuters.

Trump and Ted Cruz both trail Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton among likely general election voters in a hypothetical general election matchup, but not by much, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos polls.