Trump leads the Republican field with 32 percent of the
vote, up 7 percentage points over last week’s Morning Consult tracking poll.
Trump’s nearest GOP rival, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, clocked in at 11
percent.
No other Republican contender reaches double digits –
retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson sits in third place at 9 percent, followed by
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) at 6 percent.
The poll, conducted among a subsample of 746 self-identified Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, shows Trump running slightly better with male voters than with female voters. His support is disproportionately strong among older voters and those who say national security is their top issue; he is weakest among those who have earned a college degree.
Trump’s support shows no evidence of slipping after he
told a CNN anchor on Friday night that Kelly, one of three moderators
overseeing the Fox News debate, had “blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming
out of her wherever.”
In a series of interviews over the weekend, Trump said he
didn’t mean to imply Kelly was menstruating when she asked Trump pointed
questions about his earlier statements about women. Trump’s Republican rivals
stood virtually united in condemning his attack on Kelly, a popular host on the
channel that commands attention from a big proportion of the Republican
electorate. On Monday, Trump again refused to apologize.
The share of Republican primary voters who say they view
Trump favorably increased since the last tracking poll, to 62 percent from 57
percent. But the number of registered voters who say they see Trump unfavorably
remains high — 52 percent of all voters say they see him in a negative light.
That makes Trump both the most popular candidate within the Republican field
and the least popular candidate Republicans could nominate for next year’s
general election.
Thursday’s debate, viewed by a record-setting 24 million
people, did not provide a boost for any other leading Republican contender.
Carson, Walker, Rubio and Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) all clocked in at about the same
level of support as they did the previous week, while Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) saw
his support drop from 7 percent to 4 percent. Read More at Morning Consult
