Billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump continues to hold a huge lead over the rest of the Republican field in South Carolina, coming just days after his most controversial GOP debate performance yet, in which he was booed repeatedly by audience members.
The new poll released by Public Policy Polling on Tuesday shows Trump 17 points ahead of his closest competitor. Trump came in with 35 percent support, followed by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, tied with 18 percent each.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich took fourth with 10 percent, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson tied at 7 percent.
The poll was conducted Feb. 14-15, after Saturday night's Republican debate in Greenville, S.C.
During the debate, Trump blamed former President George W. Bush for not keeping America safe on Sept. 11, 2001, when terrorists attacked New York City and Washington, D.C., reported The Hill. He also accused Bush of lying about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction and drawing the U.S. into a war based on those lies.
Trump's rhetoric prompted loud and repeated boos from the audience, who seemed to favor more establishment candidates like Rubio, Bush and Kasich. Many wondered whether the real estate mogul's popularity would decline, but according to the PPP poll, his criticism of Bush had little effect on his standing, and he still leads among voters who hold a positive view of the former president.
Trump's supporters were the most resolute, with 77 percent saying they will definitely vote for him. That's compared to 76 percent of Cruz's supporters and 62 percent of Rubio's who said the same. Twenty-nine percent said they might change their minds between now and when they go to the polls on Feb. 20.
Some of the data suggests that Rubio could pull off an unexpectedly strong showing come Saturday. He finishes second with 28 percent if voters have to choose between him, Trump and Cruz. Rubio also has the second-highest favorability ratings behind Carson, while Trump came in fourth, and Bush and Cruz placed last.
"Marco Rubio could be the surprise candidate on Saturday night," said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. "There's a pretty clear top three and bottom three in South Carolina and if supporters of bottom 3 candidates decide to vote for someone who has a better chance Rubio is going to be the beneficiary."
On the Democratic side, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who won the Iowa caucuses by 0.3 percent, reported CNN, still has a commanding lead over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who won New Hampshire by 22 points, reported the New York Times. Fifty-five percent of South Carolina Democrats said they prefer Clinton, while 34 percent picked Sanders. The Democratic South Carolina primary will take place on Feb. 27.
The poll was conducted among 897 likely Republican primary voters and 525 Democratic primary voters. It has a plus or minus 3.3 percentage-point margin of error for the Republicans, and plus or minus 4.3 percent for the Democrats.
