Donald Trump enters the final four days before the South Carolina primary with a sizable lead over his Republican rivals among nearly every demographic, according to the latest Monmouth University poll released Wednesday.
The self-funded billionaire leads his five competitors with 35 percent support among GOP voters in the Palmetto State. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz holds 19 percent support and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio comes in third at 17 percent. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson are all polling within 1 percentage point of each other for the fourth place spot.
Trump also dominates his opponents among voters without a college education, 53 percent, voters in veterans’ households, 38 percent, and among evangelical Christians, 33 percent. He has been touting his support among South Carolina’s evangelical population at many of his recent campaign rallies while questioning Cruz’s Christian credentials. The bombastic businessman also leads the GOP field among both men, 36 percent, and women, 34 percent, and among voters under age 50, 34 percent, and voters age 50 and older, 35 percent.
The only demographic that favors another candidate more than Trump is very conservative voters, which Cruz carries at 31 percent. Still, Trump edges his opponents among somewhat conservative voters, 40 percent, and moderate voters, 41 percent.
Despite continuing to lead the GOP field, Trump’s favorability rating in South Carolina has dropped nearly 10 percentage points since November, while the percentage of voters viewing him unfavorably has risen dramatically from 29 percent to 41 percent in three months.
“Jeb Bush has probably had the most stable opinion in South Carolina polling over the past few months. Unfortunately for him, it has not been good,” said Patrick Murray, director of the New Jersey-based Monmouth University Polling Institute.
In the final stretch before the Feb. 20 primary, the survey finds that a combined 73 percent of Republican voters are completely decided on, or strongly leaning towards a candidate. Interestingly, the percentage of voters who prefer a GOP nominee with government experience has risen since August, from 25 percent to 33 percent, while the percentage of voters seeking an outsider has dropped from 61 percent to 54 percent in the same six-month period.
The Monmouth University survey of 400 South Carolina voters, who participated in either the 2012 or 2014 primaries, was conducted between Feb. 14-16. Results contain a margin of error plus or minus 4.9 percent. Rubio, Cruz and Carson have all seen their favorability ratings decrease as well, while Bush’s has risen from 41 percent to 43 percent since November.
Trump is currently first in the Washington Examiner‘s presidential power rankings.
