Donald Trump is still the way-ahead front-runner in the race for the Republican presidential nomination — but support for the billionaire developer has plummeted by a third in the past week-and-a-half, the newest
Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey reveals.
And while Trump has lost some steam, the star of former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina has risen dramatically, Rasmussen says.
The poll of 651 Likely Republican Primary Voters conducted on August 9-10 found Trump with 17 percent support, which is down from 26 percent in late July before the first Republican debate.
In second place with 10 percent each are Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Just under them are Fiorina and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, each with nine percent.
With eight percent is retired neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson, followed by Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas with seven percent.
Fiorina, who wowed the Fox News' so-called "kid's table" debate of low-scoring candidates, has rocketed eight points from the dismal one percent support she had in the previous survey.
According to Rasmussen, Rubio's support doubled from five percent in late July, with Carson's numbers up "slightly." Support for Bush and Cruz has also remained the same.
But Walker's popularity has waned, dropping five percent.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee also in the latest poll, dropping from seven percent to three percent.
Among the other Republican presidential hopefuls little has changed: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Sen. Rand Paul each have four percent. And former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, Sen. Lindsey Graham, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum have one percent each.
Former New York Governor George Pataki is at the tail end of the poll with a dismal zero percent support statistically.
In late July, Trump was taking 30 percent of the male vote and 22 percent of the female vote. In the latest poll, he earns 19 percent and 14 percent support from these groups, respectively.
The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 4 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence.
Related Stories: