Donald Trump's commanding lead over his 16 rivals for the GOP presidential nomination grew in recent weeks, while Jeb Bush's collapse was confirmed and Ben Carson solidified his runner-up position a new CNN/ORC poll released Thursday, September 10, 2015.
Billionaire developer Trump jumped 8 points since the month before, putting his support at 32% among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson enjoyed the biggest bump with a 10 point gain to nearly double his previous level to 19%, the poll said. Bush's previous 13% deflated 4 points to 9%.
The rest of the Republican pack follows. Ted Cruz is at 7%; Mike Huckabee and Scott Walker get 5%; Mark Rubio -- who took a 5 point dip in the past month -- is at just 3%. The 10 other Republican hopefuls are mired in a pack at the bottom with less than 3%.
Here's some of CNN's analysis of Trump's gain:
"Trump's gains come most notably among two groups that had proven challenging for him in the early stages of his campaign -- women and those with college degrees. While he gained just 4 points among men in the last month (from 27% in August to 31% now), he's up 13 points among women, rising from 20% in August to 33% now. Trump has also boosted his share of the vote among college graduates, increasing his support among those with degrees from 16% in August to 28% now. Among those without degrees, he stands at 33%, just slightly higher than the 28% support he had in August."
CNN's analysis says Carson's rise is "chiefly among core partisans -- he's up 13 points among Republicans and 11 points among conservatives -- and he runs closest to Trump among white evangelicals (32% back Trump, 28% Carson), a key voting bloc within the Republican primary electorate."
Carson and Trump have just begun butting heads on the campaign trail. Carson, whose stump speech is a soft-spoken appeal to conservative common sense and faith in God, is questioning the practicality of Trump's proposal to round up and deport all illegal immigrants. He also recently questioned Trump's religious faith.
"By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life and that's a very big part of who I am," Carson said. "I don't get that impression with him. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't get that."
Trump punched back Thursday in a CNN phone interview. "Ben Carson, you're talking about his faith, go back and look at his past, go back and look at his views on abortion and see where he stands," Trump told CNN's Chris Cuomo. Trump also made fun of Carson's mild-mannered style. "He makes Bush look like the energizer bunny."
The dramatic shift in fortunes for the candidates can be traced to the first GOP debate aired a month earlier on Fox News and comes a week ahead of the second debate, which will be produced by CNN.
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