Donald Trump claimed 39 percent among registered Republican voters surveyed. | AP Photo Trump, Clinton keep grip on leads ahead of primaries

Donald Trump maintains a nearly 2-to-1 advantage over Ted Cruz among Republican voters, according to the results of the latest NBC News/SurveyMonkey national weekly online tracking poll released Tuesday, as Marco Rubio has dropped from second place to third.

The Manhattan real estate magnate claimed 39 percent among registered Republican voters surveyed, a 1-point drop from the previous week’s poll, while the Texas senator experienced a 2-point bump over the same period, up to 20 percent. Rubio fell to third place with 18 percent, down 3 points from the last week. Ohio Gov. John Kasich earned 9 percent, and Ben Carson, who exited the race late last week, took 8 percent, while 6 percent said they did not know.


A slightly higher number of voters in both parties have decided on their candidate this week: Among Republicans, 53 percent said they are “absolutely certain,” while 60 percent of Democrats said the same.

Among Democrats, Hillary Clinton’s lead over Bernie Sanders grew to 17 points — 55 percent to 38 percent. The former secretary of state led the Vermont senator by 10 points in the previous week’s poll. Regardless of their voting preference, 79 percent think Clinton will overcome Sanders’ challenge to win the Democratic nomination, while just 19 percent said the same for Sanders against Clinton.

The poll was conducted online from Feb. 29 to March 6, surveying 6,481 Republican voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points and 6,245 Democratic voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 1.9 percentage points.