CNN/ORC Poll: Trump Dominates GOP Field In South Carolina By 16 Points

Donald Trump speaks at the Freedom Summit, Saturday, May 9, 2015, in Greenville, S.C. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt)
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Billionaire Donald Trump towers over the rest of the Republican field in South Carolina with a 16-point lead, according to a CNN/ORC poll released Tuesday.

The poll showed support for Trump at 38 percent. He held a commanding margin over Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) at 22 percent, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) at 14 percent and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) at 10 percent.

While Trump’s commanding position has remained little changed since the previous CNN/ORC poll in October, the latest results constitute a substantial change in the race dynamic for the rest of the GOP field. The second-place candidate in October’s poll was former neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 18 percent while none of the other candidates achieved double-digit support. This change is consistent with trends in nationwide polling, was has shown Cruz eking out modest leads over third-place candidates while lagging behind Trump.

TPM’s PollTracker Average shows Trump at 42.1 percent, followed by Cruz at 19.5 percent, Rubio at 15.2 percent and Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) at 8.3 percent.

The CNN/ORC poll was carried out from Feb. 10-15. It had a sample size of 404 likely Republican voters with a margin of error of 5 percentage points.

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