A post-debate poll shows real estate mogul Donald Trump holding onto his massive lead, with Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) tied for second place.
Here are the results from the leftist Public Policy Polling survey:
- Trump: 35 percent
- Cruz: 18 percent
- Rubio: 18 percent
- Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R): 10 percent
- Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R): 7 percent
- Dr. Ben Carson: 7 percent
PPP has come under severe criticism for its methods; as Nate Cohn wrote in 2013, “Everything about PPP’s polling screams ‘unrepresentative sample.’” The same year, Nate Silver slammed PPP for refusing to publish a poll showing defeat for pro-gun control lawmakers facing recall in Colorado. Silver tweeted, “VERY bad and unscientific practice for @ppppolls to suppress a polling result they didn’t believe/didn’t like.”
PPP’s write-up of their survey remarks on how “consistent” Trump’s support is among every demographic:
- 40 percent among young voters
- 38 percent among men
- 36 percent among Republicans
- 35 percent among evangelicals
- 34 percent among non-evangelicals
- 31 percent among women
- 30 percent among independents
- 30 percent among very conservative voters
- 30 percent among seniors
- 29 percent among moderates
Most surprising of all is that Trump leads among those who have a favorable view of former President George W. Bush at 26 percent, followed by Cruz at 22 percent and Rubio at 20 percent. It seems as if Trump channeling Code Pink and Michael Moore at Saturday’s debate has not harmed him so far.
If the race in South Carolina were to be between only Trump, Rubio and Cruz, the results would be 40 percent, 28 percent and 22 percent, respectively. In head-to-head matchups, Trump holds a slim lead over Rubio 46 percent to 45 percent, while he leads Cruz by a margin of 48 percent to 38 percent.
Predictably, since PPP leans so heavily toward the left, Cruz has the worst favorability ratings of any Republican candidate in the poll, as 42 percent have a favorable view of him while 48 percent don’t. The candidate with the best favorables in the state is Carson, as 68 percent view him positively, followed by Rubio at 58 percent.
Despite Trump’s massive lead, PPP describes the race as “fluid,” since 29 percent voters say that their minds could change between now and election day. The polling the rest of the week will reveal a better indication as to just how fluid the race in South Carolina really is. As Breitbart’s Mike Flynn writes, “The best way to evaluate this PPP poll is as one data point. Over the next two days there will be many more public polls released. The key is to identify trends.”