Vanderbilt Poll: Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton Hold Leads In Tennessee

Cruz is also in the rise, having surged 12 percentage points since the earlier survey.

All other candidates have the support of less than 5 percent of Republican voters. Rand Paul from Kentucky ( -4 points to 1%) have seen the most losses. Rubio is also up slightly, gaining 4 points – an increase within the poll’s margin of sampling error – since the last CNN/ORC poll.

Good polls can also tell us what’s driving the voters – why, for example, so many Republicans are opting for unconventional “outsider” candidates this year.

Carson, in response to questions from reporters following his speech in Cedar Rapids, attributed his recent drop in Iowa polls to “a feeling that I don’t know anything about foreign affairs”.

“There can be disagreements both with (U.S. President Barack) Obama and with Trump and with others, and I can even promise that we will have a great deal of cooperation with whichever president is elected”.

The Vanderbilt poll found Trump’s highest support among people who identify themselves as tea party Republicans: 33 percent of those voters favor Trump, while 21 percent said they would vote for Carson, 18 percent for Cruz, 12 percent for Rubio and 5 percent for Bush.

Despite controversies, criticisms and even a reported attempt by some members of his party to discredit him, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump remains firmly way ahead of his rivals in nationwide polls and still going strong.

Nevertheless, the businessman won the trust of GOP voters on key issues for the nation’s future. He says this is Trump’s biggest lead and he’s dominating on every issue.

Trump called the alleged San Bernardino attackers “chickens***”, concluding they didn’t actually want to die since they fled the scene, and made the case – as he did after the Paris attacks – that the situation would have turned out differently had some of the victims had guns. About half say such an effort would be harmful to the economy (47%), while about 3 in 10 say it would help (29%).

A USA affairs analyst for Israel’s Haaretz newspaper described the billionaire property developer’s comments as “blatant Jewish stereotyping”.

While 73 percent of all Republican voters admit the idea may not be practical, 44 percent believe it would be helpful to the economy and 30 percent insist it wouldn’t hurt.

That ugly display was followed up by a government-funding fight in which Republicans in the House and Senate threatened to shut down the Department of Homeland Security if Obama didn’t roll back is executive orders halting deportations for certain classes of undocumented immigrants. No other Republican drew double-digit support.