Texas Sen. Ted Cruz leads overall Republican front-runner Donald Trump by the slimmest of margins in the critical, winner-take-all primary state of Wisconsin.

A new Emerson College poll shows Cruz clinging to a lead, 36 percent to 35 percent, over Trump in the state. A little more than a week remains before the April 5 showdown. Ohio Gov. John Kasich rounds out the field at 19 percent.

Kasich Pulls Votes From Cruz

Researchers also found Kasich appears to be mostly pulling votes from Cruz, with his supporters finding Cruz more favorable than Trump 36 percent to 27 percent.

Overall, Trump runs nearly even among GOP voters when it comes to favorable and unfavorable ratings, 50 percent favorable to 47. But he is 10 points behind with female voters, at 40 favorable to 50, and a staggering net negative 28 points, 33 to 61, with the independent voters who comprise one-third of the state's voting pool.

Clinton Tops in State for Democrats

On the Democratic side, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leads Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders 50 percent to 44 percent, with 5 percent undecided.

Despite the numbers, Wisconsin's demographics bode well for the liberal-minded Sanders, who has parlayed his greatest success from states with a vast pool of young voters and smaller minority communities.

In the Badger State, he leads Clinton 67 percent to 29 percent in the 18-34 age group, and he ties her at 48 percent among voters ages 35 to 54. As has been the case in most primary states, he trails her by large margins with older voters.

In addition, less than 10 percent of the state's Democratic voters are African-American or Latino.

When it comes to hypothetical general election match-ups, Trump lags behind both Clinton and Sanders by the same amount, 47 percent to 38 percent. Clinton tops Cruz by a far narrower margin, 46 percent to 45 percent.

Meanwhile, nearly one in three Democrats list healthcare as the most important issue of the election. Another 16 percent cite dissatisfaction with government, and 25 percent reply "other."

Among GOP voters, supporters overwhelming listed dissatisfaction with government as their biggest concern at 36 percent, followed by healthcare at 22 percent and fears about ISIS at 12 percent.

Researchers noted the Brussels terrorist attack took place on the final day of polling.

On the issue of President Barack Obama's recent nomination of Merrick Garland to fill the Supreme Court vacancy, left by the death of Antonin Scalia, 9 out of 10 Democratic voters believe the U.S. Senate should confirm the President's nominee. By comparison, only 36 percent GOP voters think that Garland should be confirmed. Overall, Democrats favor Garland 75 percent to 5 percent, with 14 percent undecided. Republicans, on the other hand, heavily lean the other way at 28/39/28.

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