Trump, Clinton still leading in new SC poll

Another poll out Thursday shows that S.C. voters are not changing their minds about who they like for president.

Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton hold commanding leads in 2016 S.C. presidential poll by NBC News, The Wall Street Journal and Marist College.

The pair have led all but one poll taken since the summer in South Carolina, which holds the South’s first presidential primaries. Republicans vote on Feb. 20. Democrats vote on Feb. 27.

Trump leads U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas 36 percent to 20 percent among likely S.C. Republican primary voters in the new poll. The New York billionaire developer’s 16-percentage-point lead is on par with several other S.C. polls taken over the past month.

Trump held a rally Wednesday night at a tree farm in the Lexington County community of Gilbert, picking up the endorsement of Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster, a Richland County Republican, former state attorney general and S.C. GOP party chair.

The latest S.C. poll has U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida is third at 14 percent ahead of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 9 percent and retired Maryland neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 8 percent. Again, those results are similar to their showings in Palmetto State polls since December.

None of the other six candidates in the GOP field notched better than 2 percent. Six percent of likely voters in the S.C. GOP presidential primary said they were undecided.

Among S.C. Democrats, the new poll found Clinton is outpacing U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont by 64 percent to 27 percent — a lead that has been typical for the former secretary of state in the Palmetto State campaign. A poll released Sunday by CBS News had Clinton with a more narrow 22-percentage-point lead over Sanders.

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley registered at 2 percent in the latest poll.

Seven percent of likely voters in the S.C. Democratic primary did not choose a favorite.

This story was originally published January 28, 2016 at 9:13 AM with the headline "Trump, Clinton still leading in new SC poll."