This Week In Polls: The Battle Of Fort Trumpter

Heading into the big day of the South Carolina primary, the polls in the state clearly show Donald Trump in the lead. But it’s a muddled picture in the race for second place — between Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio — and also whether or not any of his foes have any late-breaking momentum.

• The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll: Trump 28 percent, Cruz 23 percent, Rubio 15 percent, Bush 13 percent, and 9 percent each for Kasich and Carson.
• Fox News: Trump 32 percent, Cruz 19 percent, Rubio 15 percent, Bush and Carson 9 percent, and Kasich 6 percent.
• Clemson University: Trump 28 percent, Cruz 19 percent, Rubio 15 percent, Bush 10 percent, Kasich 9 percent, and Carson 6 percent.
• Emerson College: Trump 36 percent, Rubio 19 percent, Cruz 18 percent, Bush and Kasich 10 percent, and Carson 6 percent .
• American Research Group: Trump 34 percent, Rubio 22 percent, Kasich 14 percent, Cruz 13 percent, Bush 9 percent, and Carson 4 percent.
• Polling commissioned by the South Carolina state House GOP: Trump 34 percent, Cruz 18 percent, Rubio 16 percent, Bush 14 percent, Kasich 9 percent, and Carson 5 percent.
• Republican-aligned firm Harper Polling: Trump 29 percent, Cruz 17 percent, Rubio 15 percent, Bush 14 percent, Kasich 13 percent, and Carson 8 percent.

NEVADA DEMOCRATS

There is also one contest Saturday for Democrats: the Nevada caucuses. This race been sparsely polled — perhaps due in part to the sheer difficulty of getting a reliable voter turnout model for caucuses. But here’s what we do have:

• CNN has a dead heat with Clinton at 48 percent, Sanders 47 percent.
• Republican polling firm Gravis Marketing has Clinton ahead with 53 percent, and Sanders 47 percent.

Photo: Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign town hall meeting in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina February 15, 2016. REUTERS/Randall Hill