Trump Leads in 2 Super Tuesday States But Cruz Holds Texas, Polls Find
— -- Donald Trump leads the Republican presidential field in Tennessee and Georgia, while Sen. Ted Cruz holds a lead in his home state of Texas, according to new polls of three of the states set to vote on Super Tuesday.
Voters in a total of 13 states cast their ballots on Tuesday, March 1, the biggest single day in the primary season.
In Georgia, the New York businessman and former reality TV star leads among likely GOP primary voters with 30 percent support followed by Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio tied for second with 23 percent each, and then retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Ohio Gov. John Kasich tied with 9 percent support, according to an NBC/WSJ/Marist poll released today.
In Tennessee, a new NBC/WSJ/Marist poll found Trump getting 40 percent of support from likely GOP primary voters, while Cruz followed with 22 percent support, then Rubio with 19 percent, Carson 9 percent and Kasich 6 percent support.
Cruz has said numerous times over the past week he has been focusing on Texas in the lead-up to Super Tuesday, calling it the "crown jewel" of the major voting day. In the poll released today he leads by 13 points, receiving 39 percent support, followed by Trump at 26 percent. Rubio was third with 16 percent support, Carson at 8 percent support, and Kasich at 6 percent support.
On the Democratic side, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held large leads over her opponent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in all three states. In Georgia she led with 64 percent to Sanders' 30 percent support. In Tennessee, the poll found her with 60 percent support and Sanders with 34 percent. In Texas, she had 59 percent support, while Sanders received 38 percent support, according the the poll.
While the numbers in these states heavily favor Clinton, Sanders said today on ABC News' "This Week" that he thinks his campaign has "a shot to win a number of states on Super Tuesday."
The NBC/WSJ/Marist poll of Georgia was conducted Feb. 18-23 of 543 likely GOP primary voters with a margin of error of +/- 4.2 percentage points and 461 likely Democratic voters with a margin of error of +/- 4.6 percentage points.
The poll of Tennessee was conducted Feb. 22-25 of 665 likely GOP primary voters with a margin of error of +/- 3.8 percentage points and 405 likely Democratic primary voters with a margin of error of +/- 4.9 percentage points.
The poll of Texas was conducted Feb. 18-23 of 537 likely GOP primary voters with a margin of error of +/- 4.2 percentage points and 381 likely Democratic primary voters with a margin of error of +/- 5.0 percentage points.
