Trump: If My Poll Numbers Fall, I'll Drop Out of Race

If he falls behind in the polls, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says he'll drop out of the race in deference to the front-runner.

Trump, who continues to lead in every poll of Republican voters to date, made the stunning statement Thursday in an interview on CNBC.

Asked specifically if he'd quit if he could no longer boast he's "leading in every poll," Trump told CNBC: "Well, I'm not a masochist.

"If I fell behind badly, I would certainly get out. I'm in this for the long haul."

Trump has led in the polls for several months. The closest he's come to second is a recent CNN poll that had him in a virtual tie with neurosurgeon Ben Carson. The RealClearPolitics average of recent national polls has Trump at 23 percent, ahead of Ben Carson's 16 percent. They are followed by Carly Fiorina (12 percent), Sen. Marco Rubio (10 percent) and Jeb Bush (9 percent).

Trump also continues to dominate Facebook, where nearly 22 million people generated more than 94 million "interactions" about him between Aug. 30 and Sept. 29, the New York Post pointed out.

Carson trailed Trump with 27.6 million interactions by more than 6 million people.