According to a Fox News national poll, billionaire Donald Trump now has 39-percent of the Republican primary voters, which increased from 28-percent last month. Trump’s main supporters are men, white evangelical Christians, and voters without college degrees, which Fox says is hurting former neurosurgeon Ben Carson’s base: Carson dropped to 9%. Trump’s support for the general election, however, is down.
Although support for Senator Ted Cruz increased to 18%, Trump’s support is more than double that for Cruz. Senator Marco Rubio’s support slipped from 14% down to 11%. The other republican candidates now receive 3% or less support. According to the poll, Trump is viewed as the candidate who is most qualified to handle the economy and the most effective candidate against ISIS, but viewers have mixed reactions when asked who is most qualified to be the Commander in Chief: Cruz’ support increases to 21% and Trump decreases to 31%. Only 6% of those interviewed see Carson as the most qualified, which is an 11-point drop in one month.
When matched against Hillary Clinton, Clinton now takes a lead at 49% to Trump 38%, whereas a month ago Trump had an 11-point lead over Clinton. The poll says registered voters overall still do not take Trump seriously. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points for all registered voters, and five points for both Democratic and Republican primary voter samples.