Donald Trump Polls CNN: GOP Front-Runner Solidifies Lead in New National Poll

The Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan writes in her latest column that one of the Republican presidential candidates should begin a forceful campaign against political correctness, but she seems to exclude Donald Trump, who may be the most vocal anti-P.C. candidate running.

The real estate mogul dominates a new national CNN/ORC poll released Friday morning, leading by a whopping 20 percentage points after climbing 9 points since mid-October to 36 percent support. The former Florida governor is now backed by only 3 percent of Republicans (down 5 points), which the Kentucky senator clocks in at just 1 percent (down 4 points).

What’s more, Lara M. Brown, an associate professor of politics at George Washington University, contends that CNN/ORC engaged in a “bad polling practice” in the survey by choosing to ask five questions on the topic of illegal immigration prior to asking about the Republican horserace.

Republican voters are most sharply divided by education. Among those without college degrees, Trump holds a runaway lead: 46% support the businessman, compared with 12% for Cruz, 11% for Carson and just 8% for Rubio. He held a small lead over Carson, and that support is across the board – tea party Republicans, non-tea party Republicans, born-again Christian Republicans.

Trump is way, way ahead among Republicans in who is best equipped to handle challenges that will face America’s 45th president.

Several other recent polls have shown Trump reclaiming a solid lead atop the GOP field after several weeks of near parity with Carson.

The event had been previously scheduled – and Cruz aides say protecting gun owners’ rights is even more important in the wake of the shooting than it had been before. About half say such an effort would be harmful to the economy (47 percent), while about 3 in 10 say it would help (29 percent). For results among Republican and Republican-leaning voters, the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.