With just 9 weeks to go until the first votes are cast in Iowa, Donald Trump continues to sit atop the crowded Republican presidential field, with Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio vying for the second position and the rest of the field struggling to gain traction.
Recent polls show that Trump is hovering between 25-30 percent of support nationally, with Cruz and Rubio in a distant second and third place. Nationally, Ben Carson and Jeb Bush are in the single digits, with all other candidates even further behind.
At the state level, Trump continues to hold commanding margins in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire. In Iowa, polls show Trump at nearly twice the levels of his closest competitor, Cruz. In New Hampshire, polls show Trump is also ahead by a substantial margin, with Rubio in distant second.
On the other hand, while Trump may be commanding in the states with the most attention, he is performing at a lower level overall in most of the country. According to recent ABC/Washington Post poll, Trump is receiving support from just 15 percent of non-white voters nationally and half that level in swing states. He is also polling significantly lower in lower educated women in the Midwest and Rust Belt states, both groups that might prove to be important to his success.
That being said, with only 9 weeks to go until the election, it looks like Trump will remain the leader of the pack as the field continues to thin. The recent dropping out of Rand Paul, Rick Santorum and Carly Fiorina have only helped to consolidate Trump’s base of support and it appears he is only set to build on his lead as the days to Iowa and New Hampshire grow shorter.
