New poll finds Cruz narrowing Trump’s SC lead

An NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll released Friday finds Donald Trump leading the GOP presidential field by only 5 points in South Carolina, down from 16 points a month ago.

{mosads}The RealClearPolitics average of polls still finds Trump ahead of the pack by double digits going into Saturday’s South Carolina primary, but Friday’s survey reports Trump has 28 percent support among likely Republican voters, down from 36 percent in January. Ted Cruz, Trump’s nearest rival, gets 23 percent, up from 20 last month.

Trump and Cruz are followed by Marco Rubio, with 15 percent; Jeb Bush, at 13 percent; and John Kasich and Ben Carson tied, at 9 percent.

Cruz leads Trump among self-identified Tea Party supporters, 35 percent to 31 percent. No other candidate registers above Rubio’s 13 percent support among the Tea Party.

However, only 8 percent of Trump supporters report they “might vote differently” on Saturday, compared to 15 percent of those backing Rubio and Cruz and 22 percent of Bush backers.

Trump is looking to build on his momentum Saturday after a decisive win in the New Hampshire primary earlier this month.