Billionaire hotelier Donald Trump holds a wide lead in the Republican presidential race in South Carolina, according to an Emerson poll released Wednesday, while Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) narrowly beat out Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) for second place.
Support for Trump was at 33 percent, giving him a comfortable lead over Cruz, at 20 percent, and Rubio, at 19 percent. No other candidate achieved double-digit support.
This is Emerson’s first poll of South Carolina, but the results are consistent with most other polling in the state, which have virtually all shown Trump holding a substantial lead. Most results have also shown a close fight between Cruz and Rubio for second place. TPM’s PollTracker Average shows Trump at 35.7 percent, Cruz at 18.3 percent and Rubio at 16.6 percent in South Carolina.
The Emerson poll was carried out from Feb. 15-16 using an Interactive Voice Response system. It surveyed 375 likely Republican voters, with a margin of error of 5 percentage points.
