Celebrity hotelier Donald Trump leads the Republican field by nine percentage points nationwide, yet faces his most consolidated opposition yet, according to a Bloomberg poll released Wednesday.
The poll showed support for Trump at 40 percent, followed by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) at 31 percent and Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) at 25 percent. This indicates a six-point increase in support for Trump since the previous nationwide Bloomberg poll was conducted in January, showing him at 34 percent.
His opponents have surged dramatically since that poll, however, with Cruz up from 12 percent and Kasich skyrocketing from 4 percent as the GOP field shrank from twelve candidates to three.
Although Trump’s comfortable lead is consistent with other polling and is a long-running trend, the latest Bloomberg poll suggests a more concentrated opposition than he’s faced so far. Cruz and Kasich have evidently gained many more of the votes shed by candidates departing the race.
The presence of two opponents with comparable bases of support also suggests a significant shift in the dynamics of the GOP race since January, when Trump towered over a field in which his nearest opponent, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), trailed him by 20 percentage points at 14 percent.
TPM’s PollTracker Average shows support for Trump at 45.5 percent, followed by Cruz at 23.5 percent and Kasich at 14.6 percent.
The Bloomberg poll was carried out from Mar. 19-22 by live telephone interview. Pollsters surveyed 366 registered voters likely to vote in the Republican primary, with a margin of error of 5.1 percentage points.
