If polls were a stock market you could say Donald Trump is booming.
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A new CNN/ORC national poll shows Trump leading the Republican field with 36 percent.
Mr. Bush the younger, once seen as a front runner with the fund raising wherewithal to carry him to a GOP nomination next Summer, is in free fall, with just 3% of the Republican electorate supporting him.
Trump now has a twenty-point lead over his closest rival Sen. Ted Cruz at 16 and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 14. Marco Rubio’s (R-Florida) 12%. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), who garnered a paltry 1%.
Speaking to thousands at a packed Columbus rally, Trump said techniques practiced until late in the Bush administration and disavowed by President Barack Obama should be brought back because they work. But Carson’s support tumbled amid questions about his knowledge of foreign policy and a renewed focus on national-security issues.
And, CNN notes, the polls come after Trump has balanced between one controversy or another, and amid predictions from both parties that he would not last.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, like Rubio, offered a staunch defense of Israel.
This marks Trump’s highest support and widest lead since he first announced his candidacy. In an article with Mint Press News, Republican political consultant Nathan Wurtzel (who is Jewish) pointed out that “there are a lot of folks who are, to be charitable, into white identity politics, and to be uncharitable are outright racists, who are supporting Trump”.
While the other candidates largely pledged allegiance to Israel, Trump stood alone among his Republican competitors in questioning the nation’s willingness to seek peace with Palestinians.
More generally, most Republicans, 42 percent, also said that Trump would be most effective at solving the country’s problems, compared to 14 percent who picked Carson, 12 percent Cruz and 10 percent Rubio.
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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Several other recent polls have shown Trump reclaiming a solid lead atop the Republican field after several weeks of near parity with Carson, CNN noted. No other candidate earned more than 2 percent. The poll included 495 registered voters who identified themselves as Republicans – that portion of the poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 5.6 percent – and 346 Democrats – with a margin of error of plus or minus 6.7 percent.
