Donald Trump holds a double-digit lead in a new online poll of the SEC primary states, which vote within Super Tuesday’s nominating contests on March 1.
“SEC” is a reference to the collegiate Southeastern Conference’s prominence in NCAA football.
Approximately half of all respondents selected Trump as their first or second choice in Bloomberg’s poll.
Trump leads the field with the support of 37 percent of those surveyed in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio tied for second place at 20 percentage points, followed by Ben Carson at eight points, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich at six points.
The online survey found all Republican candidates would lose to Trump in a head-to-head matchup, but Rubio would fare best in defeat and lose by four percentage points, 48-44. Rubio also leads the entire field when it comes to voters’ second choice. Approximately 22 percent of those surveyed said they support Rubio as their second choice, followed closely by 19 percent of respondents who favor Cruz.
Purple Strategies conducted an online survey of 1,254 Republican primary voters in the seven southern states from February 22-24. The poll had a 2.8-percentage point margin of error.
