After the first Republican debate for the 2016 presidential election, some online polls had been released and showed Donald Trump still leading the pack. Many state that they don’t put as much faith in online polls and were waiting for the first big national presidential poll to be released, and now it has been. Well, Donald Trump is still leading, but an unexpected name has jumped into second.
In the first Fox News national poll , Donald Trump is not only still leading, but he’s still got a big margin. Among likely Republican primary voters, Trump polled in at a 25 percent, and that’s more than double his nearest competitor.
His nearest competition is actually an unexpected name in neurosurgeon Ben Carson who is at 12 percent after jumping considerably since before the first GOP debate. Texas Senator Ted Cruz is in third with 10 percent.
All others are further back with former Florida governor Jeb Bush falling back into the single digits with nine percent. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee both are at six percent.
Huckabee may have hurt his chances even more when he recently denied an abortion to a 10-year-old rape victim. A lot of negative criticism has come his way, and it could truly damage his support in the upcoming polls.
Unexpectedly, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina has just five percent support in the latest 2016 presidential poll. She was thought to have won the first Republican debate with her performance, and many thought that she could climb much higher once the first national poll hit.
Ohio Governor John Kasich and Florida Senator Marco Rubio both came in at four percent. Kentucky Senator Rand Paul and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie are right behind them with three percent each.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, former New York governor George Pataki, former Texas governor Rick Perry, and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum all polled at just one percent each.
The national poll included 1,008 landline and cell phone interviews of registered voters between the dates of August 11-13 after the GOP debates in Cleveland that took place on August 6. There is a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points on the overall numbers.
The 2016 presidential polls are likely going to change drastically over the coming months and into the new year. Donald Trump still has a strangle-hold on the Republican nomination, but others are closing in and it’s going to get interesting.
[Image via Getty Images]