--- title: Trump Strengthens Lead Over Cruz in New Poll description: Donald Trump holds a double-digit lead over Sen. Ted Cruz in the presidential race, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll canonical: https://time.com/4181801/trump-cruz-republican-poll/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-14T23:14:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:04:40.540Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Strengthens Lead Over Ted Cruz in New Poll og:description: Trump is the first choice of 33 percent of GOP primary voters, the poll says og:url: https://time.com/4181801/trump-cruz-republican-poll/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1e9b18c4e9e3f315/69887942e20a877d28a8f144/trump-cruz.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: US-VOTE-REPUBLICANS-GOP-DEBATE og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Strengthens Lead Over Ted Cruz in New Poll twitter:description: Trump is the first choice of 33 percent of GOP primary voters, the poll says twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1e9b18c4e9e3f315/69887942e20a877d28a8f144/trump-cruz.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Strengthens Lead Over Cruz in New Poll ## Video: TIME Raw: Trump Says He Has "Far Better Judgment" Than Ted Cruz [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Raw: Trump Says He Has "Far Better Judgment" Than Ted Cruz](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/NSGfPw74.m3u8) (0:35)  _Published 2015-12-13_  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jan 14, 2016 11:14 PM UTC  Donald Trump and Ted Cruz during the Republican Presidential Debate on Dec. 15, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Donald Trump and Ted Cruz during the Republican Presidential Debate on Dec. 15, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada.Robyn Beck—AFP/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jan 14, 2016 11:14 PM UTC Donald Trump now holds a double-digit lead over Republican opponent Sen. Ted Cruz in the 2016 presidential race, [according to a new NBC News/Wall Street _Journal_ national poll](http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/trump-more-doubles-national-lead-nbc-wsj-poll-n496711). Trump is the first choice of 33 percent of Republican primary voters, the national survey found. Cruz was the preference of 20 percent of respondents, followed by Sen. Marco Rubio at 13 percent and pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 12 percent. The poll results come as the candidates prepare to face off in [Thursday night’s GOP debate](http://time.com/4179941/republican-debate-charleston-fox/), weeks ahead of the Iowa caucuses. The debate is expected to highlight the [growing rivalry between Trump and Cruz](http://time.com/4158477/ted-cruz-donald-trump-poll-republican-race/). **Read more:** [How to Watch Tonight’s Republican Debate Online](http://time.com/4179420/republican-debate-watch-live-stream-online-free/) [The survey](http://www.wsj.com/articles/poll-donald-trump-widens-his-lead-in-republican-presidential-race-1452808842), conducted between Saturday and Wednesday, included 400 Republican primary voters and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4181801/trump-cruz-republican-poll/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4181801/trump-cruz-republican-poll/"},"headline":"Trump Strengthens Lead Over Cruz in New Poll","datePublished":"2016-01-14T23:14:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:04:40.540Z","description":"The poll was released just before the Fox Business Republican debate","url":"https://time.com/4181801/trump-cruz-republican-poll/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1e9b18c4e9e3f315/69887942e20a877d28a8f144/trump-cruz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1e9b18c4e9e3f315/69887942e20a877d28a8f144/trump-cruz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-VOTE-REPUBLICANS-GOP-DEBATE","caption":"US-VOTE-REPUBLICANS-GOP-DEBATE","creditText":"Robyn Beck—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4181801/trump-cruz-republican-poll/","name":"Trump Strengthens Lead Over Cruz in New Poll"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME Raw: Trump Says He Has \"Far Better Judgment\" Than Ted Cruz","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/NSGfPw74/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-12-13T17:26:21.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/NSGfPw74.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4181801/trump-cruz-republican-poll/","duration":"PT35S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4181801/trump-cruz-republican-poll/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```