Mitch Perry
A Bloomberg Politics poll released on Thursday morning shows Donald Trump continuing to lead the GOP race for president with 24 percent, followed up by Dr. Ben Carson at 20 percent.
Marco Rubio continues his rise — the Florida Senator is now at 12 percent. Texas Senator Ted Cruz is fourth with 9 percent.
Jeb Bush is next up with 5 percent, followed by Chris Christie at 4 percent, and then a four-way tie at 3 percent between Rand Paul, Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee and John Kasich.
The poll compares what some in the political media have called the Final 4 — Trump vs. Carson, and Rubio vs. Cruz on the issues.
In addition to getting higher marks for getting things done, fixing immigration problems and managing the economy, Trump is viewed as the stronger of the two candidates on combating Islamic terrorism and having appropriate life experiences to lead the nation. On who would better deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump has a 14-percentage-point advantage.
Carson is considered to have the better temperament, “cares more about people like you,” is more honest and trustworthy, and is considered to be able to work better with congress than Trump.
In the Rubio-Cruz comparison, Rubio has a 19-percentage-point advantage on having the better presidential temperament, with his next-biggest lead (17 percentage points) being on working effectively with Congress. On caring about “people like you” and having the right values to lead the nation, Rubio also beats Cruz by double-digits, while besting him by 6 percentage points on the Putin question.
The two are fairly closely matched on the questions managing the economy, having the appropriate life experiences, getting things done and combating Islamic terrorism.
The national poll of 1,002 adults was conducted Nov. 15-17, for Bloomberg Politics by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines, Iowa. The overall sample has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. The smaller sample of 379 registered Republicans and those who lean toward that party has a margin of error of plus or minus 5.0 percentage points.
