Trump back to double-digit lead in national poll

A new poll released Thursday finds Republican primary front-runner Donald Trump with a double-digit nationwide lead over his closest competitor. 

{mosads}Trump garners 35 percent support in Thursday morning’s CBS News poll, followed by Ted Cruz, with 18 percent; Marco Rubio, with 12 percent; and John Kasich, with 11 percent.

Ben Carson places fifth in the poll, with 6 percent support, followed by Jeb Bush, with 4 percent support.

The CBS poll is a change back to the normal for Trump, who found himself staring up at Cruz in an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released late Wednesday.

That poll found Cruz with 28 percent and Trump with 26 percent. It was the first time in 31 national polls that Trump had fallen out of first place.

Trump’s strong showing in the CBS poll, coming days before South Carolina’s primary, appeared to be fueled by anti-establishment sentiment, with seven in 10 Republicans saying they want a candidate who will shake up the system, compared to 24 percent who want someone who will work within it.

The billionaire businessman also leads among white evangelicals, with 33 percent backing from the group. Cruz, who has emphasized religious liberty in his attempt to cultivate the evangelical vote, receives 22 percent support from the demographic.

Trump is also seen as the most electable candidate in the field, with 53 percent of respondents saying he fares the best chance in a general election.

The CBS News poll surveyed 581 registered voters likely to vote in a Republican primary from Feb. 12 to 16. It has a margin of error of 5 percent.