Carson closes in on Trump in new poll

Ben Carson is getting close to ending Donald Trump’s reign atop the GOP polls, climbing to within 1 point of the business mogul and reality TV star in a new survey.

According to a Fox News poll released on Tuesday, Trump remains in the lead in the race for the party’s nomination, with 24 percent support nationally, but Carson is a close behind at 23 percent.

Carson has been in second place behind only Trump in the last three Fox News polls, but has been gaining steadily.

{mosads}Trump led Carson 26 percent to 18 percent in the same poll from late September, and 25 percent to 12 percent in the same poll from August. 

Trump has led in every major poll since the middle of July.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is in third place with 10 percent support in the Fox News poll, followed by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) at 9 percent and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 8 percent.

Carly Fiorina and Mike Huckabee each took 5 percent support in the survey. 

That’s a drop for Fiorina, who was at 9 percent in the previous Fox survey taken shortly after the last Republican presidential debate. Still, Fiorina has capitalized financially on her strong performance at the last debate, announcing Tuesday that she raised $6.8 million in the third quarter.

Rounding out the field are Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) at 3 percent, and Govs. Chris Christie (N.J.), John Kasich (Ohio) and Bobby Jindal (La.) and former New York Gov. George Pataki at 1 percent support each.

CNBC is requiring candidates poll at 2.5 percent or better to qualify for the main debate stage. Paul’s 3 percent in the latest Fox News survey will help him get there, but he remains on the bubble.

Kasich and Christie are also on the bubble, and can’t afford many more showings of 1 percent if they hope to stay on the main stage.