Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has overtaken businessman Donald Trump in the latest
Wall Street Journal/NBC News national poll of likely Republican voters.
Here's how the six remaining candidates stack up, according to the poll:
- Ted Cruz: 28 percent
- Donald Trump: 26 percent
- Marco Rubio: 17 percent
- John Kasich: 11 percent
- Ben Carson: 10 percent
- Jeb Bush: 4 percent
In head-to-head matchups, both Cruz and Rubio would beat Trump by double digits, according to the poll, while the rest of the field would lose to Trump, who has led the field for most of the race since his announcement in June.
"When you see a number this different, it means you might be right on top of a shift in the campaign," GOP pollster Bill McInturff told the Journal. He and Democratic pollster Fred Yang conducted the survey.
"What you don’t know yet is if the change is going to take place or if it is a momentary pause before the numbers snap back into place," McInturff said.
The poll talked to 400 registered voters who said they would vote in a Republican primary in 2016. The margin of error was plus-or-minus 4.9 percent.
The poll was conducted February 14-16, after Saturday's South Carolina debate, with some respondents saying Trump's performance there affecting their opinions.
"He just lost his cool," said Daniel Cleveland of Spartanburg, South Carolina. "It was the first time I’ve seen him lose his cool like that. He was very upset."
"I thought at first maybe he was serious, but the more I watched him, to me he is not serious," said Bonnie Kartes of Buckeye, Arizona.
Trump is still ahead in South Carolina, home to Saturday's GOP primary.
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