Celebrity businessman Donald Trump holds a considerable lead over Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in the Republican race in Iowa, according to a Public Policy Polling survey released Thursday.
The PPP poll showed support for Trump at 31 percent among likely Iowa caucusgoers. Cruz garnered 23 percent, while third place was occupied by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) at 14 percent. No other candidate had more than a single-digit showing. These results show a wider gap between the top two contenders than in the previous iteration of the same poll, which earlier this month showed Trump at 28 percent, Cruz at 26 percent and Rubio at 13 percent.
This poll is consistent with most recent Iowa polling, which has tended to show Trump pulling ahead of Cruz as bitter personal attacks flew between the two campaigns. Although PPP and other polls suggest Trump has come out of that clash ahead, Cruz’s hold over second place in the Hawkeye State also has strengthened. Polls have tended to show a comfortable margin separating him and any third-place contender, usually Rubio.
The PPP poll was carried out from Jan. 26-27. Pollsters surveyed 780 likely Republican caucusgoers using an Interactive Voice Recognition program, except for the 20 percent who completed the survey online, with a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.
