Donald Trump maintains a commanding 19-point lead over his closest GOP presidential rival in a new national poll from Monmouth University released Wednesday.
Trump is out front with 36 percent support nationally, down from 41 percent in the same survey last month but still more than a 2-to-1 advantage over Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who took 17 percent, a three-point increase from December.
The rest of the pack has stayed relatively stable in position, with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio coming in at 11 percent, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson at eight percent and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush with five percent.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Ohio Gov. John Kasich tied at three percent each. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky came in with two percent, while former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania were at one percent each.
"These results suggest that the GOP race is fairly static on a national level," said Monmouth polling director Patrick Murray. "We'll have to wait and see if the Iowa and New Hampshire results shake things up."
Sixty-five percent of Republican voters said that they believe Cruz, who was born in Canada, is a natural born citizen and therefore eligible to run for president, while 12 percent said that he is not a natural born citizen and 24 percent were not sure.
Most voters, 37 percent, said that Trump is best-equipped to go up against Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in the general election, while 24 percent said the same of Cruz and 31 percent said that Cruz and Trump would have an equal chance against Clinton.
In a new CNN/WMUR poll released Wednesday out of New Hampshire, Trump leads by 20 points over second-place Cruz, 34 percent to 14 percent.
It's a similar story in a North Carolina poll released by Public Policy Polling on Wednesday, which puts Trump with 38 percent support, up five points from last month, and Cruz at 16 percent.
In Florida, a poll released Wednesday from Florida Atlantic University Poll has Trump leading by a 32-point margin, with 48 percent, compared to Cruz's 16 percent.
