Twenty-two percent of Utahns said they’d choose Carson to be the 2016 GOP nominee, while 9 percent picked Trump.
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Carson, 64, is black, deeply religious, and rose from inner-city poverty to become the world’s most renowned pediatric neurosurgeon. He’s not of those with different sexual orientations and has unusual advisers like Robert Dees, virulently anti-Muslim retired general. Bill Brock, of Tennessee, cringe at either choice.
Other polls conducted also have Trump as the frontrunner but by a more narrow margin.
Carson, who has seen a few bumps in the road in recent weeks, also leads the former secretary of state by the same margin.
Joe Gruters, a co-chairman of Trump’s Florida campaign, said his candidate is building a strong operation in the state and is on track to deny either Rubio or Bush a victory on their home turf, which likely would spell the end for their campaigns. He is neutral this time.
At the start of the month, Carson overtook Trump in the national polling average and in the key early states of Iowa and SC. But this week, that same poll shows Carson falling back to 13 percent – 10 points behind Trump and tied with Marco Rubio.
Who would be the better president? Unlike Carson, he has run a big organization, played politics and is no stranger to the art of deal making.
Utah voters may be responding to is the emphasis Carson has put on faith.
Most members of this informal group worry about unilateral acts by the mercurial Trump: deporting 11 million immigrants, seizing Iraqi oil fields, starting a China trade war.
Keene, noting the conservative complaints that President Barack Obama has used executive orders to exceed his constitutional authority on issues such as immigration, asked: “Can you imagine Donald Trump saying the Constitution is more important than I am?” Dr. Ben Carson, on the other hand, still has a lot to prove.
In more bad news for Clinton, although 56 percent of voters say she has the right kind of experience for the presidency, Clinton has the lowest favorability rating of any top candidate in Colorado – just 33 percent – while 67 percent says she is not trustworthy or honest.
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That’s scant solace for establishment Republicans.
