Donald Trump Continues To Lead The Race Nationally: Latest Poll Shows GOP Nomination Is Trump’s To Lose

If there is one man who would come out smiling after viewing the latest Fox News poll results, it will be Donald Trump.

The Republican front-runner has continued to build his lead and is well-placed to win the GOP nomination come June, according to the latest numbers. Although fellow Republican candidate Ted Cruz has delivered his best performance in any national poll yet, his numbers are still not enough to put too much pressure on Donald Trump, who has emerged out of the polls with flying colors.

The Fox News poll is conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research, and was conducted by telephone with live interviewers between January 4-7, 2016 among a random national sample of over a thousand registered voters, according to the methodology detailed by the news organization.

According to the poll results, Trump leads with 35 percent among Republican primary voters, with Cruz following behind in second place with 20 percent, Marco Rubio is in third place with 13 percent, and Ben Carson is the last Republican to lead the double figures with 10 percent. Jeb Bush, whose numbers have continued to dip ever since he announced his candidature in the summer, gets only four percent, while Carly Fiorina gets three percent, and Chris Christie, John Kasich and Rand Paul each get two percent.

But as great as the new poll results might be for Donald Trump, there are still things to brood over for the Republican front-runner. First of all, his numbers have decreased by four percent since last month’s polls, while Ted Cruz has gained two percent during the same time period.

Even more alarmingly for Trump, Cruz clearly holds an advantage over Trump among self-described “very” conservative voters, with Cruz leading Trump by a margin of seven percent. But the race between the two Republican heavyweights is at its tightest when it comes to white evangelical Christians, with Donald Trump’s 28 percent lead just edging out Ted Cruz’s 26 percent.

Half of the people who participated in the poll think that Donald Trump is twice as likely to reverse Obama’s policies, something Republican voters do not trust Ted Cruz with, with the latter trailing Trump by a staggering 27 percent.

But perhaps the most interesting thing that can be gleaned from the polls, apart from the fact that Trump has clearly established himself as the Republican front-runner, is the fact GOP primary voters now prioritize national security as the most important issue that needs to be addressed. The Paris and San Bernardino attacks seem to have been the primary reasons for this change of heart, with more than 43 percent voters saying that national security issues will be most important in deciding their vote for the nomination, followed by economic issues at 27 percent.

Among the Democratic primary voters, Hillary Clinton leads with 54 percent support for the nomination, with Bernie Sanders trailing her at 39 percent. Martin O’Malley is a distant third with 3 percent.

Furthermore, more than 62 percent Democratic primary voters appeared to be satisfied with their candidate choices,but about 33 percent of Hillary supporters would have preferred another candidate, according to the numbers.

With almost six months to go before the nominations, both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton will be hoping that they can maintain the lead for their respective nominations, but with Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders not far behind, the nomination far from being done and dusted.

You can view the full results of the Fox News National polls by clicking here.

[Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images]