Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton hold big leads in Maryland two weeks before the state’s presidential primary election, according to a new NBC 4/Marist poll released Tuesday night.
Among likely Republican voters, Trump holds a 12-point lead over Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, 41 percent to 29 percent, with Ohio Gov. John Kasich in third at 24 percent.
On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton leads Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders by 22 points, 58 percent to 36 percent.
Among Republicans, Trump enjoys the most enthusiastic block of supporters. Seventy-one percent of his backers say they “strongly” support him, compared to 51 percent for Cruz and 44 percent for Kasich.
“We’re seeing in Maryland a similar pattern as we’re seeing elsewhere, with Trump in the low 40s and then Cruz and Kasich dividing up the rest,” said pollster Lee Miringoff. “Trump is well positioned because the other two are dividing up the pie.”
Consistent with exit polling from other contests around the country, Sanders performs well with young people in Maryland compared to Clinton. He receives 54 percent support from Democratic voters under 45 years old, compared to 41 percent for Clinton. Sanders also captures the votes of about two-thirds of self-described independents.
But the Democratic frontrunner beats Sanders handily in other key groups, including with self-described Democrats (63 percent to Sanders’ 31 percent), African Americans (63% to 30%) and women (61% to 32%.)
Either Democrat would easily best any of the Republican candidates in a hypothetical general election matchup in the heavily blue state, the poll found.
Maryland’s primary will be held on April 26. Ninety-five pledged delegates are up for grabs for Democrats, with 23 additional “super delegates” from the state also weighing in. A total of thirty-eight delegates are at stake on the GOP side.
The NBC4/Marist poll was conducted April 5 through April 9, 2016.
The margin of error among 775 likely Democratic primary voters is +/- 3.5 percent.
The margin of error among 368 likely Republican primary voters is +/- 5.1 percent.
