By Thomas Madison
Donald Trump enjoys a YUUUUUGE lead over his Republican opponents in the most recent CNN-ORC Nevada GOP presidential poll. The numbers speak for themselves. The Donald is rolling.
Jeb Bush, who is spending far more than any candidate in the race, registered an anemic 1%, indicating that the campaign of the former establishment favorite is now clearly on life support. If Nevada’s polling doesn’t convince Bush to throw in the towel, the numbers from the most recent Florida polling, which are even worse (margin between front runner Trump and Bush), should.
According to CNN, “The poll finds businessman Donald Trump holding a wide lead, topping the field with the support of 45% of those likely to caucus. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz are closely matched in the race for second place, with Rubio at 19% and Cruz at 17%. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson (7%), Ohio Gov. John Kasich (5%) and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (1%) lag well behind those three.
Nearly 6-in-10 likely GOP caucusgoers say they have definitely decided whom to support, with about one-quarter still trying to make up their minds.
As in the South Carolina poll, Trump dominates the field on handling top issues, including the economy (61% trust Trump most), illegal immigration (58% Trump), ISIS (55% Trump) and foreign policy (42% Trump). He holds a smaller edge over Cruz and Rubio on handling social issues — 28% say Trump would handle those best, 21% Cruz and 20% Rubio.
Trump is also widely seen as most likely to change the way things work in Washington (64% say he’s best on that measure), and as the candidate with the best chance of winning in November (56% say Trump has the best shot).
In Nevada, unlike South Carolina, Trump has a significant advantage on the question of who best represents Republican values: 35% name Trump, 22% Cruz, 20% Rubio.
The CNN/ORC Nevada Poll was conducted by telephone February 10-15 among a random sample of 1,006 adult residents of the state. Results among the 245 likely Republican caucusgoers have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 6.5 percentage points. For results among the 282 likely Democratic primary voters, it is plus or minus 6 percentage points.”