Latest GOP poll has Donald Trump back on top
Presidential candidate Donald Trump has regained his place at the top of at least one new Republican presidential poll.
The real estate tycoon comfortably leads the pack, with 28 percent of Republicans voters鈥� support, according to a聽聽released聽Friday. That鈥檚 10 points clear of his nearest competitors, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, each polling at 18 percent.
The only other GOP hopeful to crack double digits was Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, at 11 percent. 聽
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, once thought the candidate to beat, netted just 4 percent. He鈥檚 followed by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Carly Fiorina who each polled at 3 percent.
The new poll indicates that Dr. Carson is the preferred candidate of 25 percent of white evangelicals, which is a decline of 8 percent points since last month. On the other hand, Trump and Cruz have gained in one of Carson's key demographics.
Carson鈥檚 drop comes weeks after intense media scrutiny over as well as strong criticism for聽his lack of foreign policy experience.
During an interview with "Fox News Sunday" last week, Carson he would call to pull together an international coalition to counter Islamic State.
Following last week鈥檚 terror attacks in Paris, multiple polls suggest that Trump鈥檚 popularity has risen among GOP voters, defying the conventional expectation that voters would turn to a more experienced candidate to handle such a crisis, 海角大神 reported.
The polls show that, once again, Beltway wisdom was wrong. The attacks didn't expose Trump as ill-prepared or unversed. Instead, it appears that Trump's populist appeal and show of strength, even aggression, hold significant appeal in times of fear and anxiety.
鈥淚f you look at the public polling as to who is strongest when it comes to defeating ISIS, Mr. Trump is the clear winner,鈥� Trump's campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski,聽. 鈥淭hese are not my assertions. These are what the polls say time and time again. People want a person who is strong leader.鈥�
Trump鈥檚 surge comes despite his recent controversial remarks, where he called for shutting down of US mosques to counter the threat of terrorism following the Paris attacks.
鈥淣obody wants to say this and nobody wants to shut down religious institutions or anything, but you know, you understand it,鈥� Trump said on Fox News鈥檚 鈥淗annity鈥澛爋n Tuesday. "There's absolutely no choice."
It is clear that Trump鈥檚 in-your-face demeanor is winning over Republican primary voters.
The NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll was conducted online between Nov. 15-17. It questioned 2,440 Republican and Republican-leaning independent voters. The margin of error was plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.
