Donald Trump still leads GOP race as Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz rise and Ben Carson slumps
Donald Trump continues to lead the GOP field with Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz gaining ground, while retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson is slipping.
A Quinnipiac University poll of Republican voters nationwide, released Wednesday, finds Trump leading the pack with 27 percent of the support, up from 24 percent last month.
Rubio comes in second with 17 percent, up 3 points from November. Cruz has gained 3 points, garnering 16 percent of the support and tying Carson, who lost 7 points over the past month.
The four candidates make up the top tier of GOP candidates, according to the poll.
Jeb Bush received 5 percent of the support, Carly Fiorina earned 3 percent, and Chris Christie and John Kasich each garnered 2 percent.
The remaining candidates received 1 percent or less.
Some notable stats:
- Cruz ties Trump among self-identified Tea Party and evangelical voters and leads the pack among “very conservative” voters.
- Among GOP voters for whom terrorism is the most important issue, Trump leads with 29 percent, followed by Carson with 19 percent and Rubio with 18 percent.
- Among voters who say foreign policy is most important, Rubio leads with 22 percent, followed by Trump and Cruz at 19 percent.
- 65 percent say they might change their minds while 32 percent say their minds are made up.
- Among Trump supporters, however, 46 percent say they’ve made up their minds, while 53 percent say they could change.
- Among Rubio supporters, 23 percent are decided, and among Cruz supporters, 33 percent are decided.
- Twenty-six percent of Carson supporters have their minds made up.
Still, 26 percent of GOP voters say they would definitely not support Trump, the highest percentage in the field. Bush comes next, with 21 percent saying they would definitely not support him. Just 6 percent say the same for Cruz and 5 percent for Rubio, the lowest in the field.
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