--- title: Trump Maintains Lead While Cruz Surges Into 2nd Place description: Donald Trump has moved back into the lead of the 2016 Republican presidential contest, while Ted Cruz has surged into second place canonical: https://time.com/4146947/trump-cruz-carson-poll/ author: NBC News article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-13T15:45:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:49.412Z article:section: Politics og:title: Poll: Trump Maintains Lead While Cruz Surges Into 2nd Place og:description: Ben Carson has lost much of his support og:url: https://time.com/4146947/trump-cruz-carson-poll/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb560e0293a3cb01/69887524cf40a87e8ac41107/trump5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 8000 og:image:height: 4500 og:image:alt: GOP Candidate Donald Trump Campaigns In South Carolina og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Poll: Trump Maintains Lead While Cruz Surges Into 2nd Place twitter:description: Ben Carson has lost much of his support twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb560e0293a3cb01/69887524cf40a87e8ac41107/trump5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Poll: Trump Maintains Lead While Cruz Surges Into 2nd Place > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### 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. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=06db6f69-2d4d-4923-afa2-1c1e3a8e84ec&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Mark Murray / NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## Mark Murray / NBC News Dec 13, 2015 3:45 PM UTC  Donald Trump speaks to the crowd at town hall meeting on Dec. 12, 2015 in Aiken, South Carolina. Donald Trump speaks to the crowd at town hall meeting on Dec. 12, 2015 in Aiken, South Carolina. Sean Rayford—Getty Images by [Mark Murray / NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## Mark Murray / NBC News Dec 13, 2015 3:45 PM UTC Donald Trump has moved back into the lead of the 2016 Republican presidential contest, while Ted Cruz has surged into second place, [according to a new national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll](https://www.scribd.com/doc/293151693/15564-NBCWSJ-December-Poll-12-13-15-GOP-Ballot-Release-1). Meanwhile, Ben Carson — who was ahead in the poll back in late October — has dropped 18 points to fourth place in the GOP race. In the current poll, Trump is the first choice of 27 percent of Republican primary voters (up four points since the last poll). He’s followed by Cruz at 22 percent (up 12 points) and Marco Rubio at 15 percent (up four). But Carson is now in fourth at 11 percent (down 18 points) — and much of his support has transferred to Cruz. [_Read more from our partners at NBC News_](http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/trump-leads-national-gop-horserace-cruz-surges-2nd-place-n479196?cid=par-time%5F20151213) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4146947/trump-cruz-carson-poll/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4146947/trump-cruz-carson-poll/"},"headline":"Poll: Trump Maintains Lead While Cruz Surges Into 2nd Place","datePublished":"2015-12-13T15:45:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:49.412Z","description":"Ben Carson has lost much of his support","url":"https://time.com/4146947/trump-cruz-carson-poll/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb560e0293a3cb01/69887524cf40a87e8ac41107/trump5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mark Murray / NBC News"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb560e0293a3cb01/69887524cf40a87e8ac41107/trump5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"GOP Candidate Donald Trump Campaigns In South Carolina","caption":"GOP Candidate Donald Trump Campaigns In South Carolina","creditText":"Sean Rayford—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/4146947/trump-cruz-carson-poll/","name":"Poll: Trump Maintains Lead While Cruz Surges Into 2nd Place"}}]}] ```