--- title: Ben Carson Tops Donald Trump in Iowa, Poll Shows description: Ben Carson has overtaken Donald Trump for first place in the Republican primary in a new poll of Iowa voters. canonical: https://time.com/4083568/ben-carson-donald-trump-iowa-poll-2/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-22T16:35:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:59.440Z article:section: Politics og:title: Ben Carson Tops Donald Trump in Iowa, New Poll Shows og:description: He beat Trump by a wide margin among female voters og:url: https://time.com/4083568/ben-carson-donald-trump-iowa-poll-2/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt21b6d3796d9fb1b8/69886783cd1bba5bff6fd90a/gettyimages-488667824.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4884 og:image:height: 2747 og:image:alt: Republican Candidates Take Part In Debates At Reagan Library In Simi Valley og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ben Carson Tops Donald Trump in Iowa, New Poll Shows twitter:description: He beat Trump by a wide margin among female voters twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt21b6d3796d9fb1b8/69886783cd1bba5bff6fd90a/gettyimages-488667824.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ben Carson Tops Donald Trump in Iowa, New Poll Shows > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Oct 22, 2015 4:35 PM UTC  Ben Carson and Donald Trump take part in the presidential debates at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif., on Sept. 16, 2015. Ben Carson and Donald Trump take part in the presidential debates at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif., on Sept. 16, 2015. Justin Sullivan—Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Oct 22, 2015 4:35 PM UTC 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](http://www.quinnipiac.edu/news-and-events/quinnipiac-university-poll/iowa/release-detail?ReleaseID=2291). 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. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4083568/ben-carson-donald-trump-iowa-poll-2/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4083568/ben-carson-donald-trump-iowa-poll-2/"},"headline":"Ben Carson Tops Donald Trump in Iowa, New Poll Shows","datePublished":"2015-10-22T16:35:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:59.440Z","description":"He beat Trump by a wide margin among female voters","url":"https://time.com/4083568/ben-carson-donald-trump-iowa-poll-2/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","Donald Trump","Dr. Benjamin S. 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