NBC News released a new overnight poll that continues to show Donald Trump in the lead. The poll was conducted online and with SurveyMonkey. Despite being done online, it is a scientific poll.
The poll also shows that the Republican debate on Fox News had a great impact on the race. Trump continues in first place at 23%. However, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) jumped into second place with 13%. After him was Dr. Ben Carson with 11%. In fourth place was Carly Fiorina with 8%. She was previously hovering around 0% nationally. Fiorina has been widely praised for her debate performance and when NBC News polled and asked who did the best at the debate, 22% named her the winner. The 22% was enough to garner Fiorina first place in the debate victory poll. Tying her was Senator Marco Rubio.
Governors Scott Walker (WI) and Jeb Bush (FL), who have been the frontrunners and two of the top candidates, dropped to a sixth place tie at 7%. Walker and Bush had the highest net loss compared to NBC’s last poll. They both dropped three percentage points.
In terms of change from the last poll, Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina were the clear winners. Cruz jumped 7% and Fiorina 6%.
When asked about who did the best job in the debates, Fiorina won with 22%. Trump placed second with 18%. However, the poll also asked who did the worst in the debate. There, Trump won with 29%. Therefore, Trump had a net score of -11%. That was the highest negative score, but it did tie with Senator Rand Paul’s (KY). 3% felt that Paul did the best, but 14% felt that he did the worst. Some have criticized Paul as being grouchy and angry during the debate and he got into a fight with Governor Chris Christie (NJ) over hugs.