AP Photo Poll: Trump makes it to 50 percent nationally

For the first time in the election cycle, Donald Trump has the support of half of Republican and Republican-leaning voters nationwide, according to the results of the latest NBC News/SurveyMonkey online weekly tracking poll released Tuesday. Ted Cruz and John Kasich, meanwhile, are stagnant or losing ground.

Trump earned 50 percent, an increase of four points from the previous week, while Cruz took 26 percent and Kasich grabbed 17 percent, both losing two points over the last seven days. Another 7 percent said they do not know who they would choose.


The latest results signify the first time Trump has cracked the 50-percent mark in the survey, though he has been steadily increasing over the first few months of 2016.

The Republican front-runner's support jumped by six percentage points among those identifying solidly as Republicans, up to 49 percent from 43 percent the previous week. Republican support for both Cruz and Kasich has decreased over the last few weeks of surveys.

On the Democratic side of the race, Hillary Clinton leads Bernie Sanders by 10 points — 52 percent to 42 percent, with 6 percent saying they do not know whom they would support.

In hypothetical general election contests, Clinton leads Trump by eight points (44 percent to 36 percent) and Cruz by 10 points (43 percent to 33 percent).

The poll was conducted online from April 18-24, surveying 10,707 adults, of which 9,405 who said they are registered to vote. The overall margin of error is 1.4 percentage points, while among the 2,633 registered Republican voters surveyed, the margin of error is plus or minus 2.3 percentage points.