Ben Carson And Donald Trump Drop In Polls: Will Ted Cruz Win Republican Nomination?

Donald Trump has been the front-runner for the Republican nomination, while Ben Carson has usually been in second place. According to a recent poll, both candidates are losing ground, even though Trump still has the lead. The Washington Times has the news.

“Donald Trump still holds a lead in the Republican presidential polls in Iowa, but Ben Carson is fading and Sen. Ted Cruz is catching up fast as the first-in-the-nation caucuses prepare for another wild finish.”

The Washington Times notes that four years ago, Newt Gingrich was on the top of the Republican presidential polls and points out just how fast things could change. On Friday, the Guardian pointed out that Trump had plummeted by 12 percentage points.

“Donald Trump’s support among Republicans has dropped 12 points in less than a week, marking the presidential hopeful’s biggest decline since he started leading the field in July, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.”

The Guardian adds that Trump is still in the lead with 31 percent saying he is their preferred candidate. However, the number is down from the 43 percent he had before. Slate repeats the poll and suggests the reason why Trump may be faltering.

“But it’s difficult to ignore that this latest plunge comes shortly after Trump seems to have taken his hateful rhetoric to new highs. After the Nov. 13 Paris attacks, for example, Trump said he would back requiring all Muslims in the United States to register in a database. He was also roundly criticized for mocking a New York Times reporter who has a disability,” claims reporter Daniel Politi.

According to CNN Money, Donald Trump refutes the notion he was mocking a New York Times reporter with a disability, claiming he didn’t even know the reporter.

“Somebody at the financially failing and totally biased New York Times said that, over the years, I have met Mr. Kovaleski. Despite having one of the all-time great memories, I certainly do not remember him,” Trump said in a statement.

Donald Trump adds that he believes Kovaleski is using his disability to grandstand and that he should get back to reporting for a newspaper that is rapidly declining. This isn’t the first time Trump has criticized the New York Times, a news outlet that many on the right see as the “Bible” of the left.

Donald Trump isn’t the only candidate whose numbers are declining. As Reuters notes, Ben Carson has seen his poll numbers go down and he now trails Trump by a little more than half, with only 15 percent of Republicans polled saying they would vote for him. Carson is facing backlash from accusations that he lied about his past, which includes an incident in which he allegedly stabbed a student, who survived his wounds.

In an investigative report, the Daily Beast‘s Gideon Resnick found a lot of holes in the wounds of Carson’s story. He notes that the story has changed within the past twenty years. In 1996, Carson claimed he stabbed a friend while listening to classical music. In a book that came out years later, Carson claimed it was a 9th grade bully who was on the receiving end of his temper. Carson used the story to show how his faith helped him overcome his evil.

At this point, it’s very difficult to predict who the Republican front-runner will be. If not Trump or Carson, Ted Cruz is starting to pull ahead in the polls, given his recent performance at debates. It remains to be seen if Cruz can continue to increase his support or if Donald Trump will continue to lose his.

[Photo by Jeffrey Phelps/AP Images]