Nearly half of Trump voters would abandon the GOP if the former president started his own party, new poll says

• Some 46% of Trump voters would leave the GOP if he started his own party, a new poll has found.
• Half of those polled also said the Republican Party should be "more loyal" to him.
• The poll results come as Trump prepares to reassert control over the GOP at CPAC this week.

Nearly half of Donald Trump's 2020 voters would leave the Republican Party in favor of joining one started by the former president, a new poll has found.

The poll was conducted by USA Today and Suffolk University on 1,000 Trump voters nationwide between February 15 and 20. The university said the surveys took place shortly after Trump was acquitted by the Senate over the Capitol riot.

Here's what the pollsters found, according to USA Today and Suffolk University:

• Forty-six percent of respondents said they would back Trump in a new political party if he chose to break from the GOP and start a new one.
• Of the remaining respondents, 27% said they would still back the Republican Party, while another 27% were undecided.
• More respondents said they were loyal to Trump (54%) than those who said they were loyal to the GOP (34%).
• Half of those surveyed said the Republican Party should be "more loyal" to Trump, even if it meant losing the support of the party's traditional wing.
• Conversely, 19% said that the party should distance itself from Trump and be more loyal to establishment Republicans.

The poll reportedly had a 3.1% margin of error, according to USA Today.

The results come amid reports that Trump is preparing to reassert himself as the party's leading light, despite the end of his presidency and his being barred from multiple social-media platforms.

An unnamed Trump advisor told Axios that the former president plans to make a "show of force" at the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) on Sunday, in a speech designed to show he is "still in charge."

Advisors are also set to huddle with Trump at Mar-a-Lago this week to strategize about his political future, Axios reported. He is expected to back any candidate standing against his perceived Republican enemies, according to the outlet.

Meanwhile, former Vice President Mike Pence, who is keeping a low profile since the end of his tenure, has declined to speak at CPAC.

The event - generally seen as a haven for establishment conservatives - looks set to take on a much more Trump-era tone when it begins on Thursday, as Insider's Tom LoBianco reported.