For the very first time, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas has overtaken business mogul Donald Trump in a national poll released on Wednesday.
In the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll—this year's first national poll—Cruz is shown leading the Republican field with the backing of 28 percent of Republican voters nationwide. Trump slipped to second place with 26 percent.
However, Cruz's 2-point edge is within the poll's margin of error, and it's not clear if the survey captures real movement in the race, CNN reported.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio comes in third with 17 percent support, followed by Ohio Gov. John Kasich at 11 percent, Ben Carson at 10 percent and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in last place with 4 percent.
Only last month, the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showed Trump holding a 13-point lead over Cruz, 33 percent to 20 percent.
Trump quickly dismissed the new poll results during a town hall hosted by MSNBC on Wednesday night.
"I have never done well in the Wall Street Journal poll. I think somebody at Wall Street Journal doesn't like me," he said.
Cruz was expectedly all smiles at the latest poll, telling supporters in Spartanburg, South Carolina, "The sound you're hearing is the sound of screams coming from Washington, D.C."
The latest survey was conducted by Republican pollster Bill McInturff and Democratic pollster Peter Hart after Saturday's GOP debate in South Carolina.
Trump, however, continued to dominate the next two Republican contests—in South Carolina on Feb. 20 and Nevada on Feb. 23. According to a pair of CNN/ORC polls released this week, Trump leads Cruz in South Carolina 38 percent to 22 percent, and in Nevada, Trump is beating Rubio 45 percent to 19 percent.
Meanwhile, Cruz is daring Trump to sue him over an ad running in South Carolina that questions his record on abortion, rejecting Trump's complaints and vowing instead to run the ad "more frequently" because voters "deserve to know the truth."
"You have been threatening frivolous lawsuits for your entire adult life," Cruz said Wednesday, addressing Trump, according to Fox News. "Even in the annals of frivolous lawsuits, this takes the cake."
