Joey Garrison

USA Today Network - Tennessee

Donald Trump has built a dominating lead in Tennessee two days ahead of the Republican presidential primary on Super Tuesday, according to a new poll.

Meanwhile, the same poll found former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continues to lead big in Tennessee's Democratic primary.

A poll released Sunday by NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist found Trump the top choice of 40 percent of likely Tennessee Republican primary voters, followed by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, with 22 percent; and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio with 19 percent.

The trio is followed by Ben Carson with 9 percent and John Kasich with 6 percent.

On the Democratic side, Clinton leads U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vermont, by a 60 percent to 34 percent margin, according to the poll. That matches the same 26-point margin that a recent Public Policy Polling survey found earlier this month.

The NBC/WSJ/Marist poll of Tennessee was conducted between Feb. 22 and 25 and surveyed 665 likely GOP primary voters. It has a margin of error of 3.8 percentage points. The Democratic primary poll was taken during the same period, polling 405 likely Democratic primary voters with a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points.

The poll was taken before last week's CNN Republican presidential primary debate, which saw Trump come under attack from both Cruz and Rubio. Both have gone on the offensive against Trump in the days that followed.

The poll was also taken before Rubio netted the endorsements of two of the state's top Republicans, Gov. Bill Haslan and U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee.

Lamar Alexander endorses Marco Rubio for president

The most recent poll of Tennessee's Republican primary, conducted in January by Middle Tennessee State University, found Trump ahead of Cruz by a 33 percent to 17 percent margin.

Tennessee and 10 other states vote on Super Tuesday this week. Early voting in Tennessee, which ended last week, saw a record 385,653 Tennesseans vote early, with Republican primary voters this year far outpacing Democratic voters by a 2-to-1 margin

Tennessee crushes early voting record for presidential primary

All five remaining presidential contenders have each campaigned in Tennessee this week ahead of Super Tuesday. Clinton is to hold a rally at Meharry Medical College on Sunday afternoon.

Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236 and on Twitter @joeygarrison.