New National Presidential Poll Says ... 'Loser' Trump? The Donald Falls Out Of First

A new Republican presidential poll shows Donald Trump isn’t winning any more.

Trump trails Texas Sen. Ted Cruz by 2 percentage points for the GOP nomination, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Wednesday.

Given its 4.9-point margin of error, the poll shows the two candidates essentially in a statistical dead heat.

“When you see a number this different, it means you might be right on top of a shift in the campaign,” Bill McInturff, who conducted the poll, said in an NBC article announcing the results. “What you don’t know yet is if the change is going to take place or if it is a momentary ‘pause’ before the numbers snap back into place.”

And it comes as Trump and Cruz have ramped up the attacks on each other in the days leading up to the South Carolina GOP primary.

Here’s where the candidates stand in the latest poll:

• Ted Cruz: 28 percent
• Donald Trump: 26 percent
• Marco Rubio: 17 percent
• John Kasich: 11 percent
• Ben Carson: 10 percent
• Jeb Bush: 4 percent

The poll was conducted between February 14 and 16, after the New Hampshire primary and South Carolina debate.

It would be the first time Trump has trailed in a major national poll since early November, according to RealClearPolitics, when Carson edged him by 1 percentage point in a McClatchy/Marist poll.

Trump and Carson went back and forth in national polls during October. Before that, Trump hadn’t trailed in a national poll since July, when Bush led before any debates had yet been held.

“One poll post-Saturday debate can only reflect there may have been a ‘pause’ as Republican voters take another look at Trump,” McInturff said about the latest poll. “This happened earlier this summer and he bounced back stronger. We will have to wait this time and see what voters decide.”

Trump continues to threaten Cruz with a lawsuit over his citizenship and now says attack ads painting Trump as pro-abortion could be grounds for a lawsuit, too.

Cruz responded strongly in a heated press conference Wednesday, saying, “I have to say to Mr. Trump, you have been threatening frivolous lawsuits for your entire adult life. If you want to file a lawsuit challenging this ad, claiming defamation, file the lawsuit.”

Image via Michael Vadon/Wikimedia Commons