Carly Fiorina in 2nd Place in Post-Debate Surge; Trump Slips

Not only did Carly Fiorina emerge as the victor of the second Republican presidential debate Wednesday night, but polls also show that her popularity has risen in a key voting state.

Meanwhile, support for Trump’s candidacy – which stood at 32 percent in August – has slipped to 24 percent, the new poll shows. Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon, was in second place with 14 percent and Fiorina in third at 11 percent.

Forty percent had an unfavorable opinion of Trump, more than any other Republican, though his overall rating was positive with 52 percent viewing him favorably.

LIASSON: Yeah, and I mean, he quipped that he hadn’t seen Hillary since his last marriage, and I guess she said, well, I’ll be seeing you at the next one. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio follows with 7 percent while Texas Sen.

Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey moved up from 1 percent in August to 3 percent this month, but he has fallen from 8 percent support in April. Sen. The margin of error with the Republican results is plus or minus 4.5 percentage points, the network added.

Trump said he fielded “the toughest questions” on the CNN telecast – as he did in the first debate on Fox News Channel – and that 47 percent of the questions were Trump-related. Once the front-runner in Iowa, the Wisconsin governor now registers less than 1 percent after the debate watched by 23 million people. If that holds up, he might not even make the also-ran debate, where Fiorina was so recently.

Trump, who says he’ll rely on “the finest team that anybody has put together” to get him up to speed on foreign affairs, said he’d “get along” with Putin.

However, though Bennett’s post said Carson gained more Twitter followers than anyone, a spokesperson for the social media site reported that the biggest follower gains of the night were for Fiorina, Trump, and Bush. Standing at center stage, flanked by five rivals on each side, he praised himself repeatedly, reminding the audience that he’s a great businessman who has “made billions and billions of dollars”.

“It wasn’t the best format in the world“, said Carson, who in the past few weeks has quietly slid into second place in the polls behind Trump.

The candidate whose support experienced the largest upward surge, on the other hand, was former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina.