Michigan Republicans

Poll: Trump leads with Michigan Republicans

By Nick Gass

Donald Trump holds a 10-point lead over his closest rival in Michigan, according to the results of a new Detroit News/WDIV-TV poll that shows a muddled scramble for second and a largely undecided electorate with still weeks to go before Republican voters head to the polls.

The Manhattan businessman drew support from approximately one-in-four (25 percent) of those likely to vote in the state's March 8 Republican primary. Slightly more than one-in-five voters (21 percent) are still undecided as to which candidate they will support, while Texas Sen. Ted Cruz garnered 15 percent.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio finished third with 12 percent, followed by John Kasich, the governor of nearby Ohio, with 11 percent. Detroit native Ben Carson finished with 9 percent, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush brought up the rear with 5 percent support.

The poll is potentially bad news for Kasich, who has been campaigning in Michigan and sees the heavily blue-collar state as his best chance at a strong finish before Ohio's winner-take-all primary on March 15.

Glengariff Group conducted the telephone poll from Feb. 14-16, surveying 600 likely Republican primary voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.