Ted Cruz overtakes Donald Trump in new NBC/Wall Street Journal national poll

NBC/WSJ poll crowns Ted Cruz the new frontrunner in GOP presidential race

(Image credit: NBC News)

An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Wednesday night found a new frontrunner in the Republican presidential race: Ted Cruz. The junior senator from Texas had the support of 28 percent of GOP primary voters nationwide, versus 26 percent for Donald Trump — a 7-point tumble for Trump from the January NBC/WSJ poll (though about what he was polling in December's survey). Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) came in third with 17 percent, followed by Ohio Gov. John Kasich at 11 percent, Ben Carson came in at 10 percent, and Jeb Bush had a new low of 4 percent.

Republican pollster Bill McInturff said his poll, conducted Feb. 14-16 in concert with Democratic pollster Fred Yang, likely represents a "pause" as GOP voters take a new look at Trump after Saturday's feisty debate. Most national polls show Trump comfortably in the lead, but some of those included polling conducted before the debate, NBC News points out. "When you see a number this different, it means you might be right on top of a shift in the campaign," McInturff said. "What you don't know yet is if the change is going to take place or if it is a momentary 'pause' before the numbers snap back into place," as they did for Trump after a previous "pause" last summer.

The NBC/WSJ poll has Trump still leading in South Carolina, but in head-to-head matchups with rival GOP candidates, he loses to Cruz and Rubio. The poll included 400 Republican primary voters and has a margin of error of ±4.9 percentage points. Learn more in the NBC News report below. Peter Weber

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.