Donald Trump and Ben Carson are the undisputed leaders in the race for next year’s GOP presidential nomination, according to two new polls.
{mosads}Trump remains the 2016 Republican front-runner while Carson is his only serious competition, according to the polls. The latest CNN/ORC survey found that Trump receives 27 percent Republican voter support, versus 22 percent for retired neurosurgeon Carson. Trump, meantime, earns 25 percent, contrasted with Carson’s 22 percent, according to a fresh Wall Street Journal/NBC News sampling.
Trump said early Tuesday that he is not surprised Carson is his fiercest opponent in the race for next year’s Republican presidential nomination.
“We’re not as different as people think,” Trump said of Carson on CNN’s “New Day.” “I have great assets and he has great assets.
“I’m in first place and he’s in second place,” Trump told host Alisyn Camerota. “There’s no question that we’re both resonating.”
Trump refused speculation on whether he and Carson could team up for a Republican ticket in the 2016 general election.
“I like him, he likes me [and] stranger things have happened,” he said. “[But] it’s too early to tell.”
Both polls released early Tuesday show that no one else in the GOP’s crowded 2016 presidential field registers more than 15 percent support from Republican voters nationwide.Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is alone in third place in the latest WSJ/NBC News sampling with 13 percent. He ties with former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-Fla.) for third in the new CNN/ORC survey, with each candidate receiving 8 percent voter support.
CNN/ORC conducted its latest survey among 465 registered Republicans and Republican-leaning independents during phone interviews Oct. 14 to Oct. 17. It has a 4.5-percent margin of error.WSJ/NBC News, meanwhile, surveyed 400 Republicans who plan on voting in their party’s primaries from Oct. 15 to Oct. 18. It has a 4.9 percent margin of error.