CNN post-debate national poll: Rand in 8th

[Xenliad]

Carly Fiorina shot into second place in the Republican presidential field on the heels of another strong debate performance, and Donald Trump has lost some support, a new national CNN/ORC poll shows.

The survey, conducted in the three days after 23 million people tuned in to Wednesday night's GOP debate on CNN, shows that Trump is still the party's front-runner with 24% support. That, though, is an 8 percentage point decrease from earlier in the month when a similar poll had him at 32%.

Fiorina ranks second with 15% support -- up from 3% in early September. She's just ahead of Ben Carson's 14%, though Carson's support has also declined from 19% in the previous poll.

Driving Trump's drop and Fiorina's rise: a debate in which 31% of Republicans who watched said Trump was the loser, and 52% identified Fiorina as the winner.

During the CNN debate, Fiorina clashed with Trump over his personal attacks and their business records and scored points for her condemnation of Planned Parenthood.

The top three contenders underscore a key theme in the 2016 race: In a jampacked GOP presidential field, the leading candidates are the only ones who have never held political office.

But one established politician has seen his standing rise after flashing foreign policy chops on the debate stage. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida -- identified as Wednesday's winner by 14% of Republicans, putting him second behind Fiorina -- is now in fourth place with 11% support, up from 3% in a previous poll.

In fifth place is former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, at 9%. He's followed by Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at 6% each, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky at 4%, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 3%, Ohio Gov. John Kasich at 2% and former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania at 1%.

Five other candidates received less than one-half of 1 percentage point support: former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former New York Gov. George Pataki and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

Walker's collapse is especially stark.

Celebrated by conservatives -- in the party's base and its donor class alike -- for his union-busting efforts in Wisconsin, Walker at one point led the field in the key early voting state of Iowa.

His support had already dropped to 5% in a CNN/ORC poll in early September, but the bottom appears to have fallen out completely since then -- with a second flat debate performance coming after criticism of his disparate answers on issues like birthright citizenship.

Carson was a quiet presence in Wednesday's debate, but he remains the most popular candidate in the GOP field, with 65% of Republican voters saying they view him favorably, compared with just 10% saying they have an unfavorable opinion of the retired neurosurgeon.

Rubio ranks second in the popularity contest, with 57% viewing him favorably and 16% unfavorably. He's followed by Fiorina (54% favorable to 17% unfavorable), Huckabee (53% to 28% unfavorable), Cruz (52% to 22%) and Trump (52% to 40%).

The biggest positive movement was in favor of Fiorina, whose favorability rating has climbed by 9 percentage points since August. And the biggest drop hit Trump, who shed 6 percentage points in that same period.

But Trump still stands out on the issues.

About 44% of likely GOP voters say they see Trump as the candidate who could best handle the economy -- well ahead of his nearest competitors: Fiorina at 11%, Rubio at 10% and Bush at 8%.

Trump also wins on immigration, with 47% saying he could best address the issue, ahead of second-place Rubio's 15% and Bush's 9%.

He even edges Rubio, 22% to 17%, on who could best handle foreign policy.

The poll offered some good overall news for Republicans: 65% of GOP voters said they are either "extremely" or "very" enthusiastic about voting in the 2016 presidential race, compared with 51% of Democrats.

The CNN/ORC poll was conducted September 17-19 and surveyed 1,006 adult Americans, including 924 registered voters -- 444 of whom are Republicans and independents who lean toward the GOP. The margin of error with the Republican results is plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/20/politics/carly-fiorina-donald-trump-republican-2016-poll/index.html

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2015/images/09/20/rel10a.pdf

 

[Matt McGuire]

Nice to be in front of Kasich, Walker, and Christie in case they decide to cut the 'big' debate to only the top 8

 

[William Tell]

Walker at 0%?

 

[Liberty74]

So is Trump dropping just as I predicted he would be by the end of September. An 8 point drop is pretty significant. That's about a 25% decline. Carson took a hit as well and I predicted he would start dropping too. This is WHY we don't want Rand this far out as the front runner in the polls. The front runners will come and go...

I sent the CNN poll to Drudge. Spread that Trump is IMPLODING on FB and Twitter if you have an account my friends.

I heard Trump wants a Muslim in his cabinet. I'm sure that's going to go over well with the neocon Republican voters...might cost him a few more points.

 

[Peace&Freedom]

This shows if the MSM can manufacture Fiorina completing a quantum leap jump from single digits to second place in a week, that the low percentage Rand currently has can also be overcome quickly.

 

[jonhowe]

Rand's favorables have gone from 31, to 28, to 25 now.

Ugh.

 

[TheTexan]

On the bright side, 8th is better than 9th

 

[klamath]

If Fiorina falls Rubio is up next. The numbers don't lie the end result will be a neocon hawk. Fiorina and Rubio's numbers are a telling sigh.

 

[KingNothing]

We just need to get to a point where the debates contain Trump, Fiorina, Carson, Jeb, Rubio, Cruz, and Rand. Once the field is that small, Trump, Rubio, and Carson will be exposed and I think they'll fall in the polls. Trump won't stay in the race if his poll numbers are dropping and show no signs of recovery. Carson probably can't go deep enough on any issue, and is probably too nice of a man, to be involved in a long campaign. Rubio is an unserious, unfunny, ass. He won't last. I could see this coming down to Jeb, Rubio, Cruz, and Rand, with Fiorina sticking around in an attempt to become the vice president.

I like our odds if the field is winnowed down to that.

 

[Liberty74]

Rand's favorables have gone from 31, to 28, to 25 now.

Ugh.

And why I support Rand running as an Independent since he is gets hate news coverage from the media and the media keeps lying about his views. If not Rand, someone has to run third party as an Independent to show the false two party system that the people have had enough. That person is not Trump either.

 

[KingNothing]

If Fiorina falls Rubio is up next. The numbers don't lie the end result will be a neocon hawk. Fiorina and Rubio's numbers are a telling sigh.

Rubio will indeed be next, but he too will fade. He's too stupid for primetime.

 

[squirl22]

They've been pushing Santorum this week; trying to force Rand out and replace with Santorum, so this poll is really good for Rand, especially since it looks and sounds like maybe Walker will drop out creating the space that the establishment wants for Santorum. The favorable/unfavorable thing is meaningless...imo....anyway, this is a positive poll for Rand!! And also shows how fluid things are with Rubio going from 3% to 11%...it could happen to Rand also

 

[EBounding]

Hrmmm where's Christie, Walker, Kaisch, etc.? What is the television set telling me here?

 

[MarcusI]

Hrmmm where's Christie, Walker, Kaisch, etc.? What is the television set telling me here?

Christie 3% Kasich 2% Walker <0.5%

 

[hells_unicorn]

Poor Scott Walker, I honestly did not see him imploding this quickly, though I was starting to suspect that he wouldn't outlast Trump just before the 2nd debate. His terrible numbers in Iowa are going to be a death sentence to his campaign, and he may spare himself the embarrassment of losing Iowa badly and drop out before. Wish Trump would do the same.

 

[economics102]

Nice to be in front of Kasich, Walker, and Christie in case they decide to cut the 'big' debate to only the top 8

If Rand is #8, expect them to decide to narrow to the top 7.

 

[kbs021]

Did anyone here look into the poll demographics lol.. As far as I see they didn't poll anyone under freaking 50? Wth is that lol. If we are at 4 percent with 50+ this far out from the caucus then this is great news?

 

[kbs021]

They only included breakdown for those who are over 50 and those who were southern and suburban voters. This poll is scammy... ?

 

[Batman]

Did anyone here look into the poll demographics lol.. As far as I see they didn't poll anyone under freaking 50? Wth is that lol. If we are at 4 percent with 50+ this far out from the caucus then this is great news?

Not bad at all. He must have REALLY stood out at the debate. He just needs to play nice with the weaker candidates so the pipeline of displaced voters leads directly to Rand as they start to drop out.

 

[Paul4Prez]

The debates have helped Fiorina a lot. People didn't know her before. It will be tough for Rand to make a similar jump, since he's already nationally known.
The debates have destroyed Walker. He doesn't come across well on TV.

Everyone else is pretty much where they were.

Maybe this poll will finally finish off Christie and Kasich though.