Donald Trump has regained his slim lead in Iowa with less than 48 hours remaining before the first votes are cast in the 2016 Republican race for the White House.

A new Des Moines Register poll now finds Trump with 28 percent of the vote, good for a five point lead over Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who slipped two points from his standing in the previous poll and now clocks in at 23 percent.

Despite the slight dip, pollsters stress Cruz may be in even better position than Trump, pointing out that he still rates as the more popular and respected candidate among most voters.

"The drill-down shows, if anything, stronger alignment with Cruz than Trump, except for the horse race," said J. Ann Selzer, the pollster for the Iowa Poll.

Researchers also found that Florida Senator Marco Rubio, now in third place at 15 percent, may be far from finished in the state, as many mainstream GOP voters appear to be gravitating in his direction instead of aligning with either of the two front-runners.

"Donald Trump could win Iowa," said Stuart Stevens, a Maryland-based GOP strategist who has worked on five presidential campaigns but is neutral this election cycle. "But he has little room for error. He is almost no one's second choice."

By contrast, both Rubio and Cruz rate as the second choice of many.

In all, about 45 percent of voters indicate they could still be persuaded to change their minds about the candidate they are now leaning toward between now and the polls officially opening at 7 p.m. on February 2.

A win for the outspoken Trump could go a long way in giving him the kind of momentum he needs to ultimately secure the nomination. Several recent polls also have him leading in the next-up state of New Hampshire.

Once expected to dominate in the Hawkeye State given its large base of religious conservatives, anything less than a victory there could spell the beginning of the end for Cruz.

The poll also found that retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson has now cratered to just 10 percent support after several media outlets reported he once lead the entire field at 28 percent. Rand Paul, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina and Mike Huckabee all are at five percent or less.

Conducted between Jan. 26-29, pollsters surveyed 602 likely Republican caucus-goers. The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Related