Ben Carson tops Donald Trump in new national GOP poll

Ben Carson.
(Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Ben Carson has the support of 29 percent of Republican primary voters, a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found, the highest percentage any Republican candidate has notched so far in the survey.

Carson is trailed by Donald Trump with 23 percent, Marco Rubio with 11 percent, Ted Cruz with 10 percent, and Jeb Bush with 8 percent. Earlier in October, Trump led the pack at 25 percent, with Carson at 22 percent. A combined 50 percent of Republican voters also chose Carson as either their first or second choice in the GOP field, with 35 percent for Trump, 24 percent for Rubio, and 23 percent for Cruz.

Democratic pollster Fred Yang, whose firm Hart Research Associates conducted the survey along with Republican pollster Bill McInturff, said that while Carson is "currently the man to beat for the Republicans" and has "broad support," no one knows yet "the depth and commitment of that support." The poll of 400 GOP primary voters was conducted via telephone Oct. 25-29, both before and after last week's CNBC Republican presidential debate. The poll has a margin of error of ±4.9 percentage points.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.