--- title: Donald Trump Leads Latest CNN Poll by Large Margin description: It's his biggest lead ever, according to CNN canonical: https://time.com/4136436/donald-trump-ted-cruz-ben-carson-cnn-poll/ author: Victor Luckerson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-04T15:32:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:41:52.560Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Leads Latest Poll by Large Margin og:description: It's his biggest lead ever, according to CNN og:url: https://time.com/4136436/donald-trump-ted-cruz-ben-carson-cnn-poll/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee32dcdd6971f1c6/698873d13c16394ea645b03c/gettyimages-499787622.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: US-VOTE-REPUBLICANS og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Leads Latest Poll by Large Margin twitter:description: It's his biggest lead ever, according to CNN twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee32dcdd6971f1c6/698873d13c16394ea645b03c/gettyimages-499787622.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Leads Latest Poll by Large Margin > 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. ## Video: Watch The Best Quotes By Donald Trump [Watch (HLS stream): Watch The Best Quotes By Donald Trump](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7MzTpVq2.m3u8) (1:21)  _Published 2015-07-23. Donald Trump's Most Ridiculous Quotes_ by [Victor Luckerson](https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson Dec 4, 2015 3:32 PM UTC  Republican Presidential hopeful Donald Trump speaks during the 2016 Republican Jewish Coalition Presidential Candidates Forum in Washington on Dec. 3, 2015. Republican Presidential hopeful Donald Trump speaks during the 2016 Republican Jewish Coalition Presidential Candidates Forum in Washington on Dec. 3, 2015. SAUL LOEB—AFP/Getty Images by [Victor Luckerson](https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson Dec 4, 2015 3:32 PM UTC Donald Trump has his[ largest lead of the GOP presidential race](http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/04/politics/donald-trump-poll-cnn-orc-national/), according to a new CNN/ORC poll. The celebrity businessman is now favored by 36% of registered Republicans and Republican-leaning independents. Trailing him are Ted Cruz, with 16%, Ben Carson with 14% and Marco Rubio with 12% of GOP support. Trump also has massive leads when it comes to how much voters trust candidates to handle specific issues. Fifty-five percent of voters trust him most to handle the economy. He’s also preferred to handle the federal budget (51%), illegal immigration (48%), ISIS (46%) and foreign policy (30%). Trump’s rise came at the expense of Carson, Jeb Bush and Rand Paul, who all lost significant ground since CNN and ORC’s October poll. Bush is now polling at 3% and Paul at 1%. Among voters without a college degree, Trump’s lead is especially strong, with a 46% share. Cruz leads among college-educated voters with a 22% share, followed by Carson, Rubio and then Trump. According to CNN, Trump’s 20-point lead is the largest he’s had in any national live-interviewer telephone poll since he announced he was running for president. \[[_CNN_](http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/04/politics/donald-trump-poll-cnn-orc-national/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4136436/donald-trump-ted-cruz-ben-carson-cnn-poll/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4136436/donald-trump-ted-cruz-ben-carson-cnn-poll/"},"headline":"Trump Leads Latest Poll by Large Margin","datePublished":"2015-12-04T15:32:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:41:52.560Z","description":"It's his biggest lead ever, according to CNN","url":"https://time.com/4136436/donald-trump-ted-cruz-ben-carson-cnn-poll/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","GOP","Donald Trump","trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee32dcdd6971f1c6/698873d13c16394ea645b03c/gettyimages-499787622.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Victor Luckerson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee32dcdd6971f1c6/698873d13c16394ea645b03c/gettyimages-499787622.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-VOTE-REPUBLICANS","caption":"US-VOTE-REPUBLICANS","creditText":"SAUL LOEB—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4136436/donald-trump-ted-cruz-ben-carson-cnn-poll/","name":"Trump Leads Latest Poll by Large Margin"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch The Best Quotes By Donald Trump","description":"Donald Trump's Most Ridiculous Quotes","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/7MzTpVq2/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-07-23T21:38:04.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7MzTpVq2.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4136436/donald-trump-ted-cruz-ben-carson-cnn-poll/","duration":"PT1M21S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4136436/donald-trump-ted-cruz-ben-carson-cnn-poll/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```