Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump leads Texas Sen. Ted Cruz by only 3 percent in a
Wall Street Journal/NBC News national poll released Tuesday.
According to the poll of Republican primary voters the current standings are:
- Donald Trump: 30 percent.
- Ted Cruz: 27 percent.
- John Kasich: 22 percent.
- Marco Rubio: 20 percent.
Cruz led Trump by two points in the same poll last month, the only poll that showed anyone but Trump ahead since November.
Trump has won 12 of the 20 primaries or caucuses held so far, and is ahead in the delegate count, but the poll shows his support could be dwindling as the primary process continues.
Should the contest become a two-man race Trump loses in head-to-head matchups to all three of his remaining rivals, the poll shows. Cruz and Kasich outpoll him 57 percent to 40 percent, while Rubio bests him 56 percent to 43 percent.
An
ABC News/Washington Post poll released Tuesday also showed Cruz and Rubio beating Trump head-to-head.
And while Trump still leads among all four candidates in the remaining states, his numbers are lower than they were in the states that already have voted.
Trump was the favorite of 36 percent of GOP voters who already have cast their ballots, while he currently garners only 27 percent in the remaining contests. Cruz is right behind him at 25 percent.
The poll talked to 397 Republican primary voters March 3-6, beginning the same day 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney blasted Trump in a speech aimed at Republican voters. The margin of error is plus-or-minus 4.92 percent.