Former reality-television host Donald Trump is beginning to flag in South Carolina, according to an NBC/WSJ poll released Friday. The survey showed the candidate’s lead among Republicans in the state shrinking by 11 points since the same poll was taken in January.
The poll showed support for Trump at 28 percent, still affording him a comfortable lead over second-place contender Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who stood at 23 percent, and third-place contender Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) at 15 percent.
This represents a significant decline in support for Trump since January, while other candidates have made small gains. In January, Trump stood at 36 percent, Cruz at 20 percent and Rubio at 14 percent.
Most South Carolina polling has not shown that Trump’s long-running double-digit lead in the state is slipping. Nevertheless, the NBC/WSJ poll corresponds with a national NBC/WSJ poll released earlier this week that suggested Trump had fallen a few points behind Cruz in the Republican nominating contest.
TPM’s PollTracker Average in the state shows Trump at 34.1 percent, Rubio at 17.7 percent and Cruz at 17 percent.
The NBC/WSJ poll was carried out from Feb. 15-17 by live telephone interview. Pollsters surveyed 722 likely Republican voters with a margin of error of 3.6 percentage points.
