--- title: Poll: Ben Carson Ahead In National GOP Race description: A majority of voters would choose Carson as either their first or second choice canonical: https://time.com/4098308/ben-carson-poll/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-03T17:26:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:41:51.014Z article:section: Politics og:title: Poll: Ben Carson Ahead In GOP National Race og:description: A majority of voters would choose Carson as either their first or second choice og:url: https://time.com/4098308/ben-carson-poll/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8ce836590740ee44/69886f62524fc0f5addf54e8/ben-carson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: GOP Presidential Candidate Ben Carson Campaigns In Colorado Day After Party's Third Debate og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Poll: Ben Carson Ahead In GOP National Race twitter:description: A majority of voters would choose Carson as either their first or second choice twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8ce836590740ee44/69886f62524fc0f5addf54e8/ben-carson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ben Carson Takes Lead in GOP National Race > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=b368c0bf-9bd2-4dcc-91f3-7f41ce6c0cc2&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Watch Ben Carson Retell His Life Story [Watch (HLS stream): Watch Ben Carson Retell His Life Story](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/3PLzGzLI.m3u8) (1:39)  _Published 2015-10-27. GOP Presidential Candidate Ben Carson retells his life story_ by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Nov 3, 2015 5:26 PM UTC  Ben Carson speaks during a news conference before a campaign event at Colorado Christian University in Lakewood on Oct. 29, 2015. Ben Carson speaks during a news conference before a campaign event at Colorado Christian University in Lakewood on Oct. 29, 2015. Justin Sullivan—Getty Images by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Nov 3, 2015 5:26 PM UTC Ben Carson is leading the Republican presidential field, according to a poll released Tuesday. An [NBC News/_Wall Street Journal_ poll](http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/nbc-wsj-poll-carson-surges-lead-national-gop-race-n456006) finds the retired neurosurgeon has support from 29 percent of GOP primary voters—the largest share of potential voters a Republican has garnered so far. Carson is followed by previous frontrunner Donald Trump at 23 percent, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio at 11 percent, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz at 10 percent and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at eight percent. His lead is outside the survey’s margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent. The phone survey of 1,000 people was conducted Oct. 25-29, both before and after CNBC’s Republican presidential debate on Oct. 28\. Carson was trailing Trump by 3 points before the debate at 22 percent in the last NBC/WSJ poll conducted in mid-October and the two have been trading places in other national polls over the last month. Carson is also picking up substantial support as a second choice among Republican voters. Taken together, 5o percent of GOP voters would choose Carson for either their first or second choice in the presidential race. Trump had 35 percent, while Rubio captured 24 percent. **Read More:** [_Read the Full Text of the CNBC Republican Debate in Boulder_](http://time.com/4091301/republican-debate-transcript-cnbc-boulder/) ## Transcript I was born and grew up very poor. Single parent home. But my mother was out working extraordinarily hard. Three jobs at a time. And she only had a third grade education. She had to take care of us. [ UNKNOWN ] poverty. I was a terrible student. A horrible student. Had a bad temper. As a teenager, I would go out to people with rocks and bricks and Baseball bats and hammers. Most of my classmates thought I was the stupidest person in the world. They called me dummy. I was the **** of all the jokes. When I was 14 and I tried to stab someone. My mother couldn't stand the fact that we were doing poorly in school. And she prayed and she asked God to give her wisdom. And you know what? God gave her the wisdom. Turning off the TV and making us read books and submit to her written book reports, which she couldn't read. I began to read about people of great accomplishment. I began to see that the person who has the most to do with what happens with you in life is you. Is you. You know, I loved anything that had to do with medicine. I even like going to the doctor's office. [ LAUGH ] And I would gladly sacrifice a shot just to be able to smell those alcohol swabs. And as a pediatric neurosurgeon who spent my entire career Working on the welfare of children. There had been many times when I've operated for 12, 15, 18, 20 hours. I'm the only one that separate Siamese twins. The only one to operate on babies while they were still in their mother's womb. The only one to take out half of a brain, although you would think, if you go to Washington, that someone had beat me to it. Ben Carson And I am a candidate for President of the United States. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4098308/ben-carson-poll/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4098308/ben-carson-poll/"},"headline":"Ben Carson Takes Lead in GOP National Race","datePublished":"2015-11-03T17:26:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:41:51.014Z","description":"A majority of voters would choose Carson as either their first or second choice","url":"https://time.com/4098308/ben-carson-poll/","keywords":["2016 Election","Sen. Marco Rubio","Poll","ted cruz","Polling","Donald Trump","Dr. Benjamin S. 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