Trump leads, Carson fades in national poll

Donald Trump continues to hold a commanding national lead over the field of Republican presidential contenders, as Ben Carson falls back into the pack, according to a new poll.

A Quinnipiac University survey released Wednesday finds Trump taking 27 percent support, a 10-point lead over the next closest contender. That’s a slight increase for Trump, who stood at 24 percent in the same poll from last month.

“It doesn’t seem to matter what he says or who he offends, whether the facts are contested or the ‘political correctness’ is challenged, Donald Trump seems to be wearing Kevlar,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.

{mosads}The survey finds that Trump is likely near his ceiling, with 26 percent saying they would definitely not support him for president, the highest number among all of the candidates.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is in second place with 17 percent support, followed by retired neurosurgeon Carson and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) with 16 percent each.

Carson has dropped 7 points from the last poll, while Rubio and Cruz have each gained 3 points.

“Dr. Ben Carson, moving to center stage just one month ago, now needs some CPR. The Doctor sinks. The Donald soars. The GOP, 11 months from the election, has to be thinking, ‘this could be the guy,’” Malloy said. 

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is in a distant fifth place with 5 percent support, and no other GOP candidate registers more than 3 percent in the poll. Twenty-one percent said they would not vote for Bush.

Among Republicans polled, Rubio now has the highest net favorability rating, with 66 percent favorable and 8 percent unfavorable. Carson has the highest favorable rating, with 67 percent, but his 13 percent unfavorable rating brings his net score below Rubio’s.

Trump has a 64 percent favorability rating in the GOP field, but at 27 percent he has a higher unfavorable rating of all but Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.), Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Fifty-nine percent of voters nationwide say Trump is not honest or trustworthy, versus 35 percent who say he is. 

On the Democratic side, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has widened her lead to 30 points over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

Clinton takes 60 percent support over Sanders at 30 percent, growing her lead from 53 to 35 in the previous poll. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley takes 2 percent in the poll and 6 percent remain undecided.

Still, a strong majority of voters overall, 60 percent, say Clinton is not honest or trustworthy, against 36 percent who say she is. Among Democrats, 73 percent say she’s honest and trustworthy, while only 7 percent of Republicans say that. 

For Sanders, 59 percent overall say he’s honest and trustworthy and only 28 percent say he’s not. Among Democrats polled, 78 percent think he’s honest and trustworthy, while 39 percent of Republicans find him honest and trustworthy.

Clinton has a lead over all of the top GOP contenders, with Rubio doing the best in a hypothetical head-to-head match-up. Clinton edges Rubio 45 to 44. Rubio led Clinton by 5 points in the same poll from last month.

Clinton leads Trump by 6, Cruz by 5 and Carson by 3. Carson led Clinton by 10 points last month.

Sanders holds even wider leads over all of those same contenders with the exception of Rubio, who he leads by 1. Sanders has a 6-point lead over Carson, 8 points over Trump and 10 points over Cruz.

The Quinnipiac University survey of 1,453 voters nationwide was conducted between. Nov. 23 and Nov. 30 and has a 2.6 percentage point margin of error. The poll of 672 Republicans has a 3.8 percentage point margin of error, and the survey of 573 Democrats has a 4.1 percentage point margin of error.