They have a combined zero years of experience in elected office, but Donald Trump and Ben Carson are now way out in front in the critical early voting state of Iowa, according to a poll out Monday. Carson is also an outsider that has received very little attention compared to Trump and he is still pulling in 18%. The conventional wisdom immediately following the first Republican debates seemed to be that Donald Trump would sink as his bombastic style would sink most politicians, but Trump has bucked that trend and continues to rise among Republican voters.
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A Thursday news release on the release of the Monmouth University poll said it shows Walker “fading into the background” of the Republican field.
“None of the establishment candidates is having any success in getting an anti-Trump vote to coalesce around them”, said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute in West Long Branch, N.J. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, and Sen. The biggest losers in August appear to be Walker, who dropped eight points, and Bush, who dropped four.
“I think it’s anti-Washington”.
Taking the fourth and fifth places were Senator Ted Cruz of Texas (9 percent) and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (7 percent). It says Trump leads in Iowa, with 23 percent of likely caucus-goers backing him.
Walker and Bush’s favorability ratings have gone down, as Trump and Carson’s ratings have increased. Mr. Trump doesn’t talk or act like the usual presidential candidate, and that’s appealing to some.
Meanwhile on the conservative blog sdrostra.com, KCBQ radio talk show host and columnist Bob Siegel shared his ambivalance over Trump – with a series of back-and-forth thoughts titled “The many hands of Donald Trump“. The Republican base believes that the immigrants and the Muslims and the power-hungry liberals are out to destroy the country, and for them, candidates who don’t indulge in those beliefs just don’t get it. In late July, Walker led with 22 percent, Trump had 13 percent, Carson had 8 percent and Fiorina was at 3 percent.
The poll found that Sanders is the first choice of 30 percent of likely Democratic caucusgoers, just seven points behind Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton.
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The university interviewed 366 Republican voters by telephone from August. 31 to September 2 for the poll, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 5.1 percentage points.
