Ben Carson Tops Donald Trump in Iowa, New Poll Shows

Ben Carson has overtaken Donald Trump for first place in the Republican primary in a new poll of Iowa voters.

The retired neurosurgeon came in with 28% to Trump’s 20% in the new Quinnipiac University poll. His success is largely due to his popularity with female voters: Carson beat Trump 33% to 13% among women.

“Today’s results show his appeal is especially strong among the state’s sizable white, evangelical Christian community, among whom Carson is receiving 36 percent, twice Trump’s 17 percent,”said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio came in third in the poll with 13%, followed by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz with 10%.

The survey was of 574 likely Iowa Republican Caucus participants with a margin of error of +/- 4.1 percentage points.