CNN/ORC has a new national poll that shows The Donald with a massive 20 point lead over his closest rival, Ted Cruz:
Donald Trump is once again alone at the top of the Republican field, according to the latest CNN/ORC Poll, with 36% of registered Republicans and Republican-leaning independents behind him, while his nearest competitor trails by 20 points.
Three candidates cluster behind Trump in the mid-teens, including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz at 16%, former neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 14% and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio at 12%. All other candidates have the support of less than 5% of GOP voters in the race for the Republican Party’s nomination for president.
Carson (down 8 points since October), former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (down 5 points to 3%) and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (down 4 points to 1%) have lost the most ground since the last CNN/ORC poll, conducted in mid-October.
Cruz (up 12 points) and Trump (up 9 points) are the greatest beneficiaries of those declines. Rubio is also up slightly, gaining 4 points — an increase within the poll’s margin of sampling error — since the last CNN/ORC poll.
That last paragraph says it all. Despite how far behind Cruz is to Trump, He’s still gained 12 points since October, the most of any candidate, while many others like Carson are dropping. Let’s just hope Cruz becomes even more competitive in the early states as the time for voting nears. Trump’s lead is massive in this poll but we know in Iowa Trump is only up by a couple of points over Cruz.
Here’s the lowdown on the poll:
The CNN/ORC Poll was conducted by telephone November 27 through December 1 among a random national sample of 1,020 adults. Interviews were conducted with 930 registered voters, including 445 who are Republicans or independents who lean toward the Republican Party. For results among Republican and Republican-leaning voters, the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.