Bloviating real estate heir/reality TV star Donald Trump, who yesterday made news for trashing Carly Fiorina’s face (he claims he was talking about her “persona,” not her physical appearance… um, sure) and who this morning on CNN termed Ben Carson to be an “okay” doctor with a history of questionable faith, has widened his lead among Republicans in a new CNN presidential poll.
Trump gained 8 points since August to land at 32% support, and has nearly tripled his support since just after he launched his campaign in June. The new poll finds former neurosurgeon Ben Carson rising 10 points to land in second place with 19%. Together, these two non-politicians now hold the support of a majority of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, and separately, both are significantly ahead of all other competitors.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush stands in third place with 9%, down 4 points since August, and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz holds fourth place with 7%. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker follow at 5%, with all other candidates at 3% or less, including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who notched the only other statistically significant shift in the poll by falling 5 points since August.
Meanwhile, another CNN poll finds that Bernie Sanders is closing the gap between he and Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton. This possibly explains why Clinton is suddenly apologizing for the whole email kerfuffle.