Donald Trump Leads, Ted Cruz Surging In South Carolina

By Anthony Salvanto, Jennifer De Pinto, Sarah Dutton & Fred Backus The Republican Race Thirty-five % of Republican main voters support Trump, up 13 points since October, & his highest level of support in CBS News source polling.

Fox News polled 437 likely Republican voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points, and 364 Democratic voters for a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points. Ted Cruz comes in second with 16%, followed by retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 14%, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio at 11 percent.

The other candidates running in the primary received less support – U.S. Sen.

On the Democratic side, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continues to hold a wide lead over Sen. Neither is met with a lot of enthusiasm, but there is somewhat more anxiety about a Trump presidency (64 percent) than a Clinton one (57 percent). He registered 33 percent support among this group in a Monmouth Poll a month ago.

The survey also found that 67 percent of S.C. Republican voters favor surveillance of mosques and 48 percent back a database of Muslims in the Unnited States versus 42 percent who oppose it. Those suggestions drew even more backing from Trump supporters, 80 percent of whom want mosques monitored and 72 percent support the database.

Business Insider notes that the survey was conducted just ahead of Trump’s statement on Monday that Muslim immigration to the United States should be halted “until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on”.

The remaining eight candidates: Less than 1 percent each. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in the Palmetto State.

The poll was conducted among a random sample of 1,275 adults from December 4-8, with a 6 percentage point margin of error. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, with a stunning 51 percent unfavorability rating among SC Republican voters. Among likely Democrat voters, 30 support the proposal, and 55 percent are against it.