Donald Trump continues to hold a commanding lead in the Republican primary race, according to a national CBS News poll released Thursday.
Trump tops the field with 35% support, followed by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz with 18% support and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio in third place with 12%, per the survey.
The CBS poll comes one day after a NBC/Wall Street Journal poll showed rival Ted Cruz with a slight lead over Trump, 28% to 26%.
But the CBS spread among the top three candidates is consistent with most other recent national polling, which routinely shows Trump dominating the field, and Cruz and Rubio ensconced in second and third place, respectively.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich gained some national momentum from his strong second-place finish in the New Hampshire primary last week, according to the CBS poll, registering 11% support. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson finished fifth with 6%, ahead of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in last place with 4%.
The poll also shows that Trump is increasingly viewed as the most electable Republican candidate within the Party: 53% of GOP primary voters think the front-runner has the best chance to win the general election. That’s up from 26% who said the same in July of 2015, when Trump entered the race.
Still, the poll shows significant fissures within the Republican Party. About 1-in-5 say they wouldn’t support Trump should he win the nomination, and roughly the same share say so about Cruz and Rubio. Still, about 35% of GOP voters say they would enthusiastically support Trump, down slightly from 40% in January. About one-third say they would enthusiastically back Cruz (32%, down from 37% in January), and 31% say so about Rubio, about the same as in January.
CBS also surveyed opinions on the fight between President Barack Obama and the GOP-held Senate over naming a successor to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who was found dead on Saturday, setting up a high-stakes confrontation.
According to the poll, 47% think Scalia’s successor should be appointed by Obama, while 46% think the next president should decide.
These findings are more consistent with the NBC/WSJ poll, which also surveyed opinions on the Supreme Court, and found that 43% support Obama nominating the next justice with 42% opposing him.
CBS also found that Americans remain divided — largely along party lines — over Obama’s job performance: 47% approve, and 45% disapprove.
