Ben Carson falls to third place in new national poll

Republican presidential candidate and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson

(Image credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

published 2 December 2015

Ben Carson's rise to the top of the Republican presidential primary has come to a screeching halt. A national Quinnipiac University poll out Wednesday shows the retired neurosurgeon falling 6 points in the last month, dropping back to third place with 16 percent support among Republican voters. Last month, Carson was virtually tied with Donald Trump for first place with 23 percent to Trump's 24 percent.

Trump fared far better than Carson this month, rising 3 percentage points to stand alone at first place with 27 percent. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio moved up to second place with a 3-point gain and 17 percent support. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz gained 3 percentage points to tie Carson for third at 16 percent. However, all three candidates' slight bumps fall within the poll's margin of error of ± 3.8 percentage points.