Donald Trump increased his lead atop the GOP presidential field in a new national poll, attracting 49 percent support among Republican voters.
{mosads}Trump holds a 33-point lead over his closest competitor, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), in a CNN/ORC International poll released Monday morning, one day before ballots are cast on Super Tuesday.
Rubio has 16 percent support in the new poll, followed by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) with 15 percent, Ben Carson with 10 percent and Ohio Gov. John Kasich with 6 percent.
Trump and Rubio gained 8 points apiece since a similar poll in late January, while Cruz lost 4 points.
Trump holds a more narrow 15.8-point lead over Cruz, 35.6 to 19.8 percent, in a RealClearPolitics average of national polls. Rubio then follows in third place with 17.4 percent support.
CNN/ORC conducted its latest poll of 427 Republican-leaning voters via cell and landline telephone interviews from Feb. 24 to 27. It has a 5 percent margin of error.
Pollsters also found that GOP voters are typically loyal toward their preferred candidate.
About 68 percent say they “definitely support” their favorite, contrasted by 32 percent who “might change” their minds.
Monday’s results additionally showed that over half of registered Republican voters would back Trump should he clinch their party’s nomination.
About 52 percent would rally behind the billionaire, with 25 percent “definitely” backing him and 27 percent “probably” supporting him.
About 35 percent, however, would “definitely not” back Trump as the nominee. Another 13 percent would “probably not” support him.
—This report was updated at 7:17 a.m.