Donald Trump has increased his lead in the Republican primary to its largest margin yet, following his proposal to temporarily bar Muslims from entering the country, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
The survey put Trump’s support at 38% among registered Republicans and GOP-leaning independents, six points higher than in October and November. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas has surged into second place with 15%, up from about half that number last month.
Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Ben Carson are tied for third place, with 12% each.
In Iowa, which kicks off the nominating season with caucuses on Feb. 1, Trump trailed Cruz in a Des Moines Register-Bloomberg Politics poll released over the weekend. Trump continues to lead in New Hampshire, which holds the first primary on Feb. 9.
However, the Washington Post-ABC survey showed Trump trailing Hillary Clinton in a hypothetical general-election race, by 53% to 40% among all adults and 50% to 44% among registered voters. The latter margin is within the range of sampling error.
In addition, 69% of adults nationally said they would feel anxious with Trump as president, with 49% saying they would feel “strongly” so, while just 29% said they would feel comfortable. At the same time, 51% said they would feel anxious with Clinton in the Oval Office, and 47% said they would feel comfortable.
The new poll was taken in the days immediately after Trump called for a ban on the entry of Muslims into the United States until US officials could guarantee a more reliable process for screening out potential terrorists.
The Washington Post reported that Trump also holds "huge" leads over the other top candidates when it comes to whom Republicans see as the strongest leader in the field, who is most likely to bring change to Washington and who among the field has the best chance of winning a general election.
On "who is the strongest leader," 54% of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents selected Trump. On the question of who can best shake up Washington, 51% chose Trump, and on who has the best chance of winning in the general election, 47% picked Trump. Asked to choose which candidate among the top five they would trust most to deal with threats of terrorism, half of Republicans cited Trump. Half also said they would trust him to deal with immigration.