Celebrity hotelier Donald Trump has more than double the support of his closest contenders in the Republican presidential race, Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Ted Cruz (R-TX), according to a Quinnipiac national poll released Wednesday.
The poll showed support for Trump at 39 percent, followed by Rubio at 19 percent and Cruz at 18 percent. This indicates that Trump has substantially widened his lead since the previous Quinnipiac poll earlier this month, which showed him at 31 percent support.
Rubio has held his ground since the last Quinnipiac poll, when he also took 19 percent, but Cruz has fallen 4 points from his 22 percent standing in the previous poll. This suggests that Rubio, who placed fifth in New Hampshire after a widely panned debate performance, has regained some momentum and rejoined Cruz in the bitter scrum for second place that has characterized most nationwide polling of the Republican race.
The TPM PollTracker Average shows Trump at 34.2 percent, followed by Cruz at 21.7 percent and Rubio at 17.2 percent.
The Quinnipiac poll was carried out from Feb. 10-15 by live phone interview. Pollsters surveyed 602 likely Republican voters nationwide, with a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
