A new CNN/ORC national poll shows Trump leading the Republican field with 36 percent.
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Senator Ted Cruz stands a distant second with 16 per cent of the votes, followed by former neurosurgeon Ben Carson (14 per cent) and Marco Rubio (12 per cent). Former Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN), who is also Jewish, observed that “in order for us to become a party [of anyone] other than white men, we need to be reaching out”.
Republican voters are most sharply divided by education.
CNN reports that among college educated voters, “the race is a close contest between the top four contenders, with Cruz slightly in front at 22%, Carson and Rubio tied at 19% and Trump at 18%”.
Meanwhile, Trump has a substantial lead among Republicans without college degrees, as 46 percent support the businessman.
Trump also has massive leads when it comes to how much voters trust candidates to handle specific issues.
At a rally in Georgia on Monday, Trump told supporters: “How about we do this for CNN: I won’t do the debate unless they pay me $5 million, all of which money goes to the Wounded Warriors or goes to vets?”
With such a lightening rod presidential nominee, down-ballot candidates would face tremendous pressure to turn their backs on Trump in order to win their respective elections, Davis said.
To this last point, it may be too soon to count out Donald Trump and the level of support he has received nationally. After that, Rubio checks in at just 15 percent, while Cruz and Carson flounder even further behind at 11 and 10 percent respectively.
More generally, about 4 in 10 Republicans say Trump is the candidate who would be most effective at solving the country’s problems and could best handle the responsibilities of being commander-in-chief. Its not our role to build up a campaign or take down a campaign, he said Thursday at a breakfast with reporters in NY. And even Trump believes his poll numbers “go up” when there are national tragedies because he represents strength and we have “weak, sad politicians”.
When you examine the poll, which was taken from November 27 through December 1, 2015 (which was a holiday weekend and is problematical all by itself in terms of who the respondents were), it is clear that the pollsters chose to ask five questions on the topic of illegal immigration prior to asking about the Republican nomination horserace.
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With that in mind it should come as no surprise that the surging Trump is the top choice of more than one out of every three Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters, according to the results of a new CNN/ORC poll released Friday. Gov. Jeb Bush and a 4 point decline for Sen.
