The latest New York Times/CBS News nationwide poll, to be released at 6:30 p.m. this evening, finds that voters are scared and fearful of a Hillary Clinton and a Donald Trump presidency:

Republican voters were most likely to say they were excited (24 percent) or optimistic (41 percent), a full one-third of Republicans say they are concerned or scared about Mr. Trump. Mrs. Clinton’s base views her potential presidency more favorably than does Mr. Trump’s. Twenty-two percent of Democratic voters are excited and 54 percent are optimistic, while only 23 percent said they were concerned or scared.

Trump is now supported by 35% of Republican primary voters, leading [mc_name name=’Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’C001098′ ]  (16%) and Ben Carson (13%) by more than 2-to-1. Cruz has quadrupled his support since the late October New York Times/CBS News nationwide poll. Carson’s support is only half what it was in the October poll, while Rubio is at 9% and the remaining GOP candidates are at 4% or less.

Hillary maintains her 20-point lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders, but possibility of Hillary winning the presidency is “only marginally more palatable to American voters than that of Mr. Trump.”

Republican primary voters are more enthusiastic than the Democrats. A majority, 54%, of Democrat primary voters have made up their minds about whom they will support, while 64% of Republicans remain unsure.

The New York Times/CBS News poll was conducted Dec. 4-8 plus and the margin of error is plus or minus 6 percent each for Republican and Democratic primary voters. Most of this polling was conducted before Trump’s proposal to temporarily block Muslims from entering the United States.

A new Fox News South Carolina poll suggests that Trump’s temporary Muslim bar proposal isn’t hurting despite all the hullabaloo over it. The Fox News poll finds Trump in front with 35% among South Carolina Republican primary voters and Carson -15%, Cruz – 14% and Rubio – 14% tied for second. The rest of the candidates are in single digits. According to Fox News:

It looks like his [Trump] comments help him in South Carolina. Support for Trump increased eight points after his statement — from 30 percent the first two nights vs. 38 percent the last two nights. The shift is within the margin of sampling error.

Republican pollster Daron Shaw says, “There are enough people in the last two nights of the sample to question the widespread assumption that Trump’s comments will hurt him among GOP primary voters.” Shaw conducts the Fox News Poll with Democratic pollster Chris Anderson.

That shouldn’t be surprising as a new Bloomberg Politics/Purple Strategies poll found that Trump’s proposal to block Muslims from entering the U.S. is actually popular among Republican voters.
Sixty-five percent of GOP respondents in the latest Bloomberg Politics/Purple Strategies poll favored Trump’s call for a ban on Muslims seeking to travel or emigrate to the country.