Polls: Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton continue to lead their fields nationally
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton continue to lead their respective fields in the presidential race, according to two national polls released Tuesday.
A NBC News/SurveyMonkey Weekly Tracking Poll, which covered Feb. 29 to March 6, found 39 percent of GOP primary voters across the country support Donald Trump, a 19-percentage-point lead ahead of Ted Cruz who received 20 percent support. Eighteen percent said they back Marco Rubio and 9 percent support John Kasich.
The poll, which surveyed 21,996 adults, which included 19,051 registered voters, also found Clinton has a 17-percentage-point lead ahead of Bernie Sanders. More than half, 55 percent, of Democratic voters or those who lean that way said they back Clinton while 38 percent support Sanders.
A Washington Post-ABC News national poll, meanwhile, shows the margin between Trump and Cruz is tightening. The survey found 34 percent back Trump, 25 percent support Cruz, 18 percent support Rubio and 13 percent back Kasich.
While Trump is leading the GOP pack, only about half of Republicans said they would be satisfied if he becomes their nominee. Nearly two-thirds of Republicans, meanwhile, said they would be satisfied with Cruz as the nominee, 62 percent said the same for Rubio and 56 percent said the same for Kasich.
The poll found that more than half of Republicans and those who lean that way view Trump as dishonest, someone who lacks the right experience and doesn't have the temperament, among other things, to serve effectively. More than 60 percent, on the other hand, said Cruz is honest, empathetic, and does have the right experience and temperament.
These results come ahead of several primaries and caucuses that four states are holding on Tuesday.
The poll surveyed 1,000 adults between March 3 and 6 with a 3.5 percentage-point margin of error.
