Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has picked up 8 points on the national field since earlier this month, now holding a 20-point lead over his closest GOP competitor, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday. On the Democratic side, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's 2-point lead over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has remained unchanged.
Trump is out front with 39 percent support, his highest total yet, according to Quinnipiac. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio followed with 19 percent and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz with 18 percent.
In fourth place was Ohio Gov. John Kasich at 6 percent, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson tied with 4 percent each.
"Reports of Donald Trump's imminent demise as a candidate are clearly and greatly exaggerated. Like a freight train barreling through signals with his horn on full blast, Trump heads down the track towards a possible nomination," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.
In the Quinnipiac poll from Feb. 5, Trump was leading with 31 percent. Since then, he won the New Hampshire primary last week by a 19.5-point margin and two candidates dropped out of the race, notes Voice of America. Cruz has dropped 4 points since the last poll, when he had 22 percent support, while Rubio's support has remained steady. Kasich, who finished second in New Hampshire, saw a 3-point bump in support, and Bush rose slightly.
Malloy said that while "Trump's raw numbers are formidable... he trails the pack on some 'from the gut' character measurements."
The latest poll shows Bush leading in terms of experience; Rubio winning in terms of honesty and trustworthiness, caring about voters' needs and problems, and sharing the same values; and Trump with the strongest leadership qualities.
Seventy-seven percent said Trump has a good chance of winning the election in November, compared to 61 percent for Rubio and 60 percent for Cruz.
Standings remained unchanged on the Democratic side, with Clinton holding onto her 2-point lead over Sanders, 44 percent to 42 percent. Sanders outperformed Clinton among very liberal respondents, independents, males, those aged 18-44, people with college degrees and whites. Clinton won among women, blacks, those without college degrees and those with moderate and conservative political views.
Sanders has an 82 percent favorable to 6 percent unfavorable rating, compared to Clinton's 74 percent favorable to 21 percent unfavorable.
The nationwide telephone poll was conducted Feb. 10-15 among 602 Republican voters and 563 Democrats. The margin of error for Republicans is plus or minus 2.7 percent, and the Democrats have a plus or minus 4.1 percentage point margin of error.
