--- title: Donald Trump Poll Lead Shrinks in South Carolina Primary description: Donald Trump's lead in South Carolina is rapidly diminishing in the final hours before Saturday's pivotal Republican primary canonical: https://time.com/4230316/donald-trump-poll-south-carolina-ted-cruz/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-19T12:18:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:12:50.931Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump's Lead Dwindles in New South Carolina Poll og:description: Ted Cruz is closing on him fast og:url: https://time.com/4230316/donald-trump-poll-south-carolina-ted-cruz/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1469f544258152fb/69887e23196cf476b203a624/donald-trump-portrait.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5184 og:image:height: 2916 og:image:alt: Donald Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump's Lead Dwindles in New South Carolina Poll twitter:description: Ted Cruz is closing on him fast twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1469f544258152fb/69887e23196cf476b203a624/donald-trump-portrait.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump's Lead Dwindles in New South Carolina Poll > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Feb 19, 2016 12:18 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump campaigns in Bluffton, S.C. on Feb. 17, 2016. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump campaigns in Bluffton, S.C. on Feb. 17, 2016. Matt Rourke—AP  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Feb 19, 2016 12:18 PM UTC Donald Trump’s lead in [South Carolina](http://time.com/4230200/south-carolina-republican-primary-trump-cruz-rubio-carson-bush/) is [rapidly diminishing](http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/donald-trump-s-lead-slashed-south-carolina-poll-n521101) in the final hours before Saturday’s pivotal Republican primary, according to [a new poll](https://www.scribd.com/doc/299711168/NBC-News-WSJ-Marist-Poll-South-Carolina-Dems-Annotated-Questionnaire-February-2016?secret%5Fpassword=koNE8oqdGkkTyaDdXvtY). The [NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll](http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/donald-trump-s-lead-slashed-south-carolina-poll-n521101) released Friday, the day before the primary, found Trump leading the GOP pack with 28% of the vote. But Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is nipping at his heels with 23%. In the same poll in January, Trump was leading Cruz by 16 points, 36% to 20%. The survey was conducted before [Pope Francis said Thursday that Trump is “not Christian,”](http://time.com/4229473/pope-francis-donald-trump-analysis/) remarks [Trump called “disgraceful.”](http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/02/18/donald-trump-calls-popes-criticism-disgraceful/) Florida Sen. Marco Rubio comes in third place in the new poll at 15%, followed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 13%, Ohio Gov. John Kasich at 9% and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson also at 9%. The South Carolina campaign has already set a new bar this year for [nasty, bloodthirsty politics](http://time.com/4230200/south-carolina-republican-primary-trump-cruz-rubio-carson-bush/), and that promises only to intensify before polls close Saturday evening. The survey of 722 likely primary voters, conducted Feb. 15-17, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4230316/donald-trump-poll-south-carolina-ted-cruz/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4230316/donald-trump-poll-south-carolina-ted-cruz/"},"headline":"Donald Trump's Lead Dwindles in New South Carolina Poll","datePublished":"2016-02-19T12:18:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:12:50.931Z","description":"Ted Cruz is closing on him fast","url":"https://time.com/4230316/donald-trump-poll-south-carolina-ted-cruz/","keywords":["Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1469f544258152fb/69887e23196cf476b203a624/donald-trump-portrait.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1469f544258152fb/69887e23196cf476b203a624/donald-trump-portrait.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump","caption":"Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump campaigns in Bluffton, S.C. on Feb. 17, 2016.","creditText":"Matt Rourke—AP","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/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4230316/donald-trump-poll-south-carolina-ted-cruz/","name":"Donald Trump's Lead Dwindles in New South Carolina Poll"}}]}] ```