Ben Carson tops Donald Trump in new national GOP poll

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.

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