New US Poll Throws Doubt on Trump Lead


    19 February, 2016

    One American election poll shows a shift in the Republican Party race for U.S. president.

    Texas Senator Ted Cruz has become more popular than early Republican front-runner Donald Trump, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

    The poll shows Cruz with 28 percent of the vote from Republican voters if there were an election today. Trump received 26 percent. In third place was Florida Senator Marco Rubio, at 17 percent.

    Republican presidential candidates, Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz, left, and Sen. Marco Rubio, right, during the Republican presidential debate at the Peace Center, Feb. 13, 2016, in Greenville, S.C.
    Republican presidential candidates, Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz, left, and Sen. Marco Rubio, right, during the Republican presidential debate at the Peace Center, Feb. 13, 2016, in Greenville, S.C.

    Ohio Governor John Kasich got 11 percent, Ben Carson was at 10 percent and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush received 4 percent.

    The latest poll was taken after Trump's primary victory in New Hampshire on February 9. In the primary, Trump received more than 35 percent of the vote.

    However, other national polls still show Trump as the leading candidate. According to a Reuters poll, Trump is 20 points ahead of Cruz.

    In the Democrat Party race for president, Hillary Clinton holds a 44 to 42 lead over Bernie Sanders, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll.

    "Senator Bernie Sanders and Secretary Hillary Clinton are neck and neck," said polling official Tim Malloy. "But while Bernie has the trust [of the voters], Hillary has the experience."

    Clinton is slightly in front of Sanders in the state of Nevada. Clinton holds 48 percent to Sanders' 47 percent in the western state. Clinton once held a large lead in Nevada. According to CNN, an October 2015 poll showed Clinton ahead by 16 points over Sanders in that state.

    Democrats polled said they believe Clinton has a better chance at winning the November general election. More than 83 percent of Democrats think she has a good chance of winning in November.

    The next state primary election is February 27 in South Carolina. According to the CNN poll, Clinton has a large lead over Sanders there. Clinton has 56 percent of the poll vote in South Carolina to Sanders' 38 percent.

    I'm Jonathan Evans.

    Ken Bredemeier reported on this story for VOANews. Jim Dresbach adapted his report for Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor.

    Who do you think will win the American presidential election? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or visit our 51VOA.COM.

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    Words in This Story

    poll – n. an activity in which several or many people are asked a question or a series of questions in order to get information about what most people think about something

    Republican – n. a member of the Republican party of the U.S.

    Democrat – n. a member of the Democrat Party of the U.S.

    primary election – n. an election in which members of the same political party run against each other for the chance to be in a larger and more important election