Donald Trump and Ted Cruz Lead National GOP Field - Poll

By Lorraine Caballero, Christian Post Contributor Monday, December 14, 2015

Donald Trump is back at the top spot among 2016 Republican presidential candidates while Ted Cruz has risen to the second place, based on a new national NBC News/Wall Street Journal (WSJ) poll.

The latest NBC/WSJ survey reflects that 27 percent of Republican primary voters choose Donald Trump, 22 percent choose Ted Cruz, and 15 percent choose Marco Rubio. In the October poll, Ben Carson was the first choice of the Republican primary voters but he has now dropped to the fourth place with a score of 11 percent, according to CNBC.

"Where Cruz picked up is where Carson lost ground," CNBC quotes Democratic pollster Fred Yang of Hart Research Associates.

Yang conducted the NBC/WSJ poll with GOP pollster Bill McInturff, who acknowledged that a significant shift has occurred in the voters' views.

Meanwhile, Jeb Bush got 7 percent and Carly Fiorina got 5 percent in the said poll. The rest of the Republican presidential candidates did not get more than 3 percent, the report details.

The NBC/WSJ presidential survey was conducted from Dec. 6 to Dec. 9 among 400 Republican primary voters. The poll was made via landline and cellphone calls and has a margin of error of plus-minus 4.9 percentage points.

Another national survey conducted by CNN/ORC echoes a similar result with Trump leading in the presidential GOP field with 36 percent. His leading status in the polls comes in the wake of his controversial statement at the Republican Jewish Coalition that critics deemed as offensive to individuals following the Jewish faith, the Beacon Examiner reports.

Based on the said poll, 42 percent of Republican voters think Trump would effectively solve the country's problems, and 37 percent say the real estate mogul is the best candidate to handle presidential responsibilities, the report relays.

The CNN/ORC poll was conducted from Nov. 27 to Dec. 1 via telephone call to 425 potential participants in the Iowa caucuses. The survey has a margin of error of plus-minus 4.8 percent.