ELECTION 2016

BEN CARSON EDGES OUT TRUMP IN NATIONAL POLL

But survey finds backers of real-estate tycoon 'firmer' in support

Cheryl Chumley

For retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, the political polling news just keeps getting better. A New New York Times/CBS News survey released Tuesday puts Carson with a four percentage point lead over long-time front-runner Donald Trump – and unlike the one that came out in recent hours favoring Carson as the first-place candidate, this one is on a national scale.

The survey is the first time Trump hasn’t led the Republican field on a national scale since July.

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In this latest, Carson wins 26 percent of voter favor to Trump’s 22 percent, albeit the margin of error could even out the numbers, the New York Times reported. The margin of sampling error is significantly higher than most polls; the newspaper reported it at plus or minus six percentage points for each candidate.

Either way, no other candidate comes close to reaching Carson and Trump. Sen. Marco Rubio won 8 percent; former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, 7 percent; former Hewlett–Packard executive Carly Fiorina, also 7 percent.

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Carson’s national showing comes on the tail of another survey from Monmouth University that put him ahead of Trump in Iowa, 32 percent to 18 percent, as WND previously reported. On top of that, Quinnipiac put Trump as the second-place candidate in Iowa in a recent survey; Bloomberg News similarly found Carson was besting the billionaire in Iowa by nine percentage points.

In this recent national survey, the New York Times cautioned against reading too much into the numbers, writing “such early polls have proven unreliable predictors of the eventual winner and the first nominating contest, the Iowa caucus, is still more than three months away.”

The newspaper also concluded: “The new poll found that Mr. Trump’s supporters are firmer in their support than Mr. Carson’s. A majority of Trump supporters, 55 percent, said their minds were made up. But 80 percent of Carson backers said it was too early to say for sure that they would eventually support him.”

The numbers also come as Republicans prepare for their third presidential debate this Wednesday.

The New York Times/CBS News poll, conducted by nationwide telephone calls, tapped into 575 Republican primary voters.

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Trump, meanwhile, dismissed the soundness of the polls during a Tuesday rally in Atkinson, New Hampshire.

“He’s had one better poll in Iowa,” Trump said, of Carson’s rising numbers in the state, ABC News reported. “I don’t believe those polls, actually, because I’ve seen the response from the people in Iowa.”

He also said Carson was “certainly not doing well in New Hampshire, I can tell you that,” and told the crowd of supporters at the Atkinson Country Club, ABC News reported: “They keep hitting me with one poll. You’re going to find out about the media someday, folks. They are the worst.”

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/10/ben-carson-edges-out-trump-in-national-poll/#q6et32oHPMcShVol.99