Ben Carson Catching Up to Donald Trump in New Poll

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Ben Carson is catching up to Donald Trump as support for the Republican presidential hopeful has almost doubled in the past two months, according to new data from a Fox News national poll.

Trump is still in the lead, with 24% of self-identified Republican primary voters saying they would like to see him get the GOP nomination. But Carson is just behind him with 23% support, an 11 point climb since August. (Trump’s support has remained steady.) Ted Cruz, the only other Republican candidate with double-digit support, comes in third place with 10%.

Meanwhile, Carly Fiorina, who emerged as one of the victors of the September Republican debate, has seen her polling numbers fall by half since last month.

One possible explanation for Carson’s rise? 68 percent of Republican primary voters say Carson is more ethical than other politicians, a percentage other GOP hopefuls fail to match. The closest is Marco Rubio, whom only 46 percent of Republican voters believe is more ethical than the average politician.

The poll was conducted over landline and cell phone interviews with 1,000 randomly selected registered voters throughout Oct. 10-12 and has a margin of sampling error of 3 percentage points, plus or minus, for all registered voters and 5 percentage points for Republican and Democratic voters.

[Fox News]

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