TRUMP, CLINTON MAINTAIN NATIONAL LEADS IN NEW NBC NEWS|SURVEYMONKEY ONLINE POLL

National Margin at 7-Week Low between Clinton & Sanders

56 Percent of GOP Voters Believe Trump Will Be Eventual Nominee, Up From 42 Percent Last Week

Trump’s Lead over Cruz among White Evangelicals Drops by 11 Points

FEB. 16, 2016 – Donald Trump and former Sec. Hillary Clinton maintain their national leads among party voters ahead of the South Carolina and Nevada nominating contests, according to the latest NBC News|SurveyMonkey online poll.

Trump leads the GOP field with 38 percent support, followed by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz with 18 percent support and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio with 14 percent support. Ben Carson holds 8 percent support, while Ohio Gov. John Kasich rises to a two-month high of 7 points.

56 percent of Republican voters now believe Trump will be the party’s nominee, a 14 percent increase from last week’s poll findings. Although he also still leads among white evangelicals, Trump’s margin over Cruz (R-Texas) has shrunk from 20 points to 9 points.

Clinton leads Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) by 10 points, holding steady with 50 percent support among Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters, down a single percentage point from last week. This marks the lowest national margin between Clinton and Sanders in seven weeks. This week’s poll shows that black millennial voters who are Democratic or lean Democratic support Clinton by a wide margin, 64 percent to 25 percent, roughly mirroring older black voters’ support for her (73 percent to 16 percent among those over 35).

Read more extended poll analysis on the Democratic presidential race (http://nbcnews.to/1mERZQ0) and the Republican presidential race (http://nbcnews.to/1SQkx7O).

MANDATORY CREDIT: NBC NEWS|SURVEYMONKEY

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For more information, please contact:

Olivia Petersen

NBC News

202-885-4159

olivia.petersen@nbcuni.com

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