Here’s the Candidate Edging Close to Front-Runner Trump in Latest Poll

2015 Winter TCA Tour - Day 10By John McCormick. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson has emerged as a leading Republican presidential candidate in Iowa and is closing in on frontrunner Donald Trump in the state that hosts the first 2016 nomination balloting contest.

The latest Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register Iowa Poll shows billionaire Trump with the support of 23 percent of likely Republican caucus participants, followed by Carson at 18 percent. When first and second choices are combined, Carson is tied with Trump.

Trump finds himself in a vastly better position than when the previous Iowa Poll was taken. He has become a credible presidential candidate to many likely Republican caucus-goers. The real estate mogul is rated favorably by 61 percent and unfavorably by 35 percent, an almost complete reversal since the Iowa Poll in May. He finds his highest ratings among those planning to attend the caucuses for the first time (69 percent) and limited-government Tea Party activists (73 percent). Just 29 percent say they could never vote for him, a number cut in half since May.

Although he isn’t generating the headlines enjoyed by Trump, Carson has quietly built a dedicated network of supporters in Iowa. During the past month, he also aired more ads than any other presidential candidate in Iowa. Carson has the highest favorability rating among Republican candidates, with 79 percent of likely GOP caucus-goers seeing him positively.

Those glowing views of Carson, who has a compelling life story and is seeking to become the nation’s second black president, could make it hard for Trump or other rivals to attack him as the campaign heats up this fall. Christian conservatives, who represent nearly 40 percent of likely caucus participants in the poll, may be starting to coalesce around the former director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins. (Read more from “Here’s the Candidate Edging Close to Front-Runner Trump in Latest Poll” HERE)

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Republican Candidates Address Donald Trump and Volatility in Polls

By Steve Eder. As the summer of Donald J. Trump winds down, some of the real estate mogul’s rivals took to the Sunday political talk shows, discussing plans for emerging from Mr. Trump’s shadow in the Republican field.

Scott Walker

The Wisconsin governor denied that his campaign has been forced to shift course by the potency of Mr. Trump’s candidacy . . .

Chris Christie

As his own campaign struggles to take hold, the New Jersey governor told Fox News Sunday that he plans to be on the main stage for the second Republican debate Sept. 16 in Simi Valley, Calif., even though several polls show he no longer ranks in the top 10 of the Republican field. (Read more from this story HERE)

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