Donald Trump now has the support of more than 30 percent of Republican voters for the GOP presidential nomination, according ot a new
CNN/ORC poll, with Ben Carson rising by 10 points to end up in second place, with 19 percent, giving the two outsiders the overall party lead.
Further, the poll shows that more than half , 51 percent, of the GOP voters believe Trump will likely win the nomination, with 19 percent thinking former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will come out ahead and 11 percent who think it will be Carson.
Trump's support has tripled since his campaign launch in June, reports CNN, and he has gained eight points since last month to gain support from 32 percent of a random sample of 1,012 adults in the poll, which was conducted between Sept. 4-8.
No other candidates broke the double-digit mark in the poll:
● Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush stands in third place with 9 percent down 4 points since August;
● Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, fourth place with 7 percent;
● Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, 5 percent;
● All other candidates, 3 percent or less, with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio falling five points since August.
Trump made large gains among women and college-educated voters, the poll shows, gaining 13 points with women to rise from 20 percent to 33 percent and climbing from 16 percent to 28 percent among college graduates. He stands at 33 percent among those without degrees, up slightly from 28 percent in August and at 31 percent with men, up four points.
The real estate mogul is also leading among GOP voters who back the Tea Party movement, the poll showed, gaining 41 percent support, up from 27 percent in August. Carson is in second in that group with 21 percent, with Cruz following at third with 11 percent. The other candidates all fell below five percent among Tea Party voters.
Carson's numbers, though, are coming from core voters:
● Up 13 points among Republicans and 11 points among conservatives
● Closest to Trump with white evangelicals, with 32 percent backing Trump and 28 percent for Carson;
● Republicans are twice as likely to be enthusiastic with Carson at the top of the ticket, receiving 43 percent of the enthusiasm vote compared to 40 percent for Trump.
Voters said they have various reasons for backing Trump, Carson, and businesswoman Carly Fiorina, who netted just three percent support in the poll:
● 75 percent, views on the issues;
● 16 percent, on-the-job experience;
● 7 percent, dislike of other candidates.
And among supporters for candidates who have previously held office, 34 percent said their experience is the main attraction, 51 percent chose them for their positions on issues and 14 percent said it was because they did not like other candidates.
Bush, meanwhile, who had once been widely considered a shoe-in for the nomination, saw numbers that dropped all-around:
● 47 percent said they would be dissatisfied or upset should he win the nomination
● 16 percent would be enthusiastic about him if he wins the nomination;
● 7 percent who say the economy is an extremely important issue would back him, even though his campaign is based on the economy.
Trump's push on the illegal immigration is also resonating with Republicans, the poll shows. Fifty-one percent of those polled called the issue "extremely important, and of that group:
● Trump got 42 percent support;
● 17 percent, Carson
● 10 percent, Cruz;
● 9 percent Bush;
● 5 percent, Walker.
The poll included 930 interviews with registered voters, including 474 Republicans or Republican-leaning independents, and carried a margin of error of three points overall and 4.5 points among Republicans.
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