Donald Trump still dominates the GOP field with a 15-point lead in the latest national poll

Donald Trump remains atop the Republican presidential field in a new national poll out Tuesday, with sizable leads over Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). The national poll by NBC News/SurveyMonkey shows the real estate mogul leading with 35 percent; Cruz follows with 20 percent support, and Rubio came in third with 17 percent support. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson came in a distant fourth with 7 percent — 28 points behind Trump. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich tied for fifth place nationwide with 3 percent each.

Although Trump remains far and away the leader in the GOP field, the poll also found that Republican voters are losing confidence that he will be the party's eventual nominee. Since last week, the number of voters who say that Trump will win the nomination dropped 20 points to 42 percent. Cruz and Rubio's numbers continued to rise, with 31 percent predicting Iowa caucus winner Cruz would get the nomination and 18 percent saying Rubio would.

The poll, conducted among 2,887 registered Republican voters across the nation, has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.

Subscribe to The Week

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

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

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.

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

Sign up