A CNN Poll of Polls suggests Donald Trump will easily be walking away with his second straight 2016 Republican primary victory by the time voting results in South Carolina begin to trickle in at around 7 p.m. (ET) on Feb. 20, but that hardly puts all the intrigue of Election Day to rest.

The same CNN poll also shows Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio going wire to wire for the right to call themselves the runner up and perhaps pick up a much needed dose of momentum heading into Las Vegas for the next primary battle. The Poll of Polls is a survey that averages the four most recent polls of likely GOP voters.

Less than 48 hours before polls were scheduled to open, Trump held a nearly 2-1 advantage (35 percent to 19 percent) over Cruz, while Rubio placed third at 15 percent.

Rubio Picking up Steam?

Despite those numbers, Rubio might have reason to have as much optimism as any of the candidates as polls actually opened. All indicators are the Florida Sen. is poised to make a late charge, perhaps much of it fueled by popular South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley's late endorsement of him.

"If we elect Marco Rubio, every day will be a great day in America," Haley said in officially making her choice for the nomination known. "I wanted somebody with fight, I wanted somebody with passion, I wanted somebody who had the conviction to do the right thing, but I wanted somebody humble enough to remember he works for all the people."

Since then, Yahoo reports a pair of late polls have Rubio surging ahead of Cruz and one of them even has him been drawing as close as three points to Trump.

Cruz Attacked Over 'Dirty Tricks'

In recent days, Rubio has also taken to attacking Cruz over what he described as his "dirty tricks." With only hours remaining before the polls actually opened, he reminded voters to be on the lookout for "suspicious news reports, emails and social media posts."

Rubio's communication director Alex Conant added, "We will not allow Ted Cruz to do to Marco in South Carolina what he did to Ben Carson in Iowa," referring to Cruz campaign organizers wrongly telling Ben Carson supporters during the caucuses that their candidate was dropping out.

According to the CNN Poll of Polls, Trump now stands at 34 percent nationally, while Cruz is at 21 percent and Rubio is at 16 percent.

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