Donald Trump has established a commanding lead in the latest presidential poll, even after his comments Saturday in which he said Arizona Sen. John McCain is not a war hero.
The poll, conducted for
The Washington Post and ABC News, found that Trump was in first place with 24 percent support; twice the level of support of his closest rival, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who had 13 percent. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush came in third with 12 percent support.
Pollsters talked to Republican-leaning voters Thursday through Sunday, so most of the responses were given before Trump's controversial remarks about McCain. The samples taken Sunday showed
his support dropped significantly, the Post reported.
The remaining 2016 GOP field was in single digits:
- Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee – 8 percent
- Florida Sen. Marco Rubio – 7 percent
- Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson – 6 percent
- Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul – 6 percent
- Texas Sen. Ted Cruz – 4 percent
- Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry – 4 percent
- New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie – 3 percent
- Ohio Gov. John Kasich – 2 percent
- Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal – 2 percent
- Former New York Gov. George Pataki – 1 percent
- Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum – 1 percent
- Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina – 0 percent
- South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham – 0 percent
Trump's lead was the highest of any GOP candidate the poll has seen all year and represents six times his support in May.
Despite his huge lead, when voters were asked whether they would vote for the real estate mogul should he win the GOP nomination, 62 percent said they would definitely not vote for him in the general election, the poll found.
This poll marks the latest in a string of polls that has put Trump in first place among voters. A
Fox News poll released last week showed Trump with 18 percent support, compared to Walker, who was in second place with 15 percent.
A
Suffolk University/USA Today poll published last week put Trump in first place with 17 percent support, compared to 14 percent for Bush.
And in an
Economist/YouGov poll released last week, Trump was also in the lead with 15 percent support compared to 11 percent for Bush.
But an
Iowa poll released on Monday by Monmouth University had Walker in the lead with 22 percent compared to 13 percent for Trump.
Trump's latest comments about McCain come after weeks of media firestorm following his announcement speech, in which he said Mexico was sending criminals and "rapists" to the United States.
Rivals were reticent to criticize him on immigration but did not hold back in their condemnation following the remarks about McCain.
The Washington Post-ABC News poll was conducted July 16-19 and talked to a random sample of 1,002 adults. Overall results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.