We will have to wait and see if this is truly reflected in Saturday's primary. I would definitely have thought there would have been some movement after the last debate.

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Donald Trump is the clear front-runner heading into Saturday's South Carolina Republican primary.

A new Public Policy Polling survey released Tuesday found Trump leading in the crucial third-nominating state by a large margin.

According to the poll, 35% of likely Republican voters supported Trump. Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) tied for second with 18%.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) trailed in fourth with 10%, while former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson each captured 7% of the support.

Trump blasted out the poll results almost immediately in a Tuesday tweet.

"New PPP Poll just out — Trump up big, Cruz, Rubio and Bush down. The debate results, even with a stacked RNC audience, were wonderful!" Trump tweeted, referencing the rowdy audience that frequently booed him during Saturday night's Republican debate.

The survey found that as in New Hampshire, Trump's support in South Carolina seemed firm among wide swaths of Republican primary voters.

"Donald Trump doesn't seem to have lost any support in South Carolina following Saturday night's debate," Dean Debnam, PPP's president, said in a statement. "He has a pretty consistent across-the-board lead with the different segments of the Republican electorate."

Though Trump has led in the state for months, recent polls have shown a slight realignment of the race. Rubio's lower-than-expectations fifth-place finish in New Hampshire hasn't appeared to deflate his popularity in South Carolina. Several recent polls have found him locked in a dead heat with Cruz for second place.

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/w...160400936.html