Real estate mogul Donald Trump leads the 2016 GOP field in a new survey on North Carolina.
Mr. Trump was the choice of 16 percent of Republican primary voters in the state, followed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker at 12 percent apiece, according to the survey from the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling.
“Three weeks after his candidacy announcement, Donald Trump just seems to be getting stronger,” said Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling. “It may just be a matter of time before the novelty wears off, but it hasn’t yet.”
Mr. Trump has taken some heat from both Democrats and Republicans for comments he made about Mexican immigrants during his announcement speech last month, but he was tied for second in a recent Quinnipiac poll on the Republican field in the early state of Iowa and was in second in a recent CNN/WMUR poll on the GOP field in New Hampshire. He was also in second in a recent national CNN/ORC poll on the Republican field.
Next came former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at 11 percent, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 9 percent each, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky at 7 percent, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas at 6 percent, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 5 percent and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina at 4 percent. No other candidate or prospective candidate topped 2 percent.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was the front-runner on the Democratic side, taking 55 percent of the vote to 20 percent for Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the next-closest contender.
In head-to-head match-ups, Mrs. Clinton trailed Mr. Rubio, Mr. Paul, Mr. Carson, Mr. Walker and Mr. Huckabee by margins ranging from 1 to 4 points and she led Mr. Cruz, Mr. Bush and Mr. Trump by margins ranging from 1 to 3 points. She and Ms. Fiorina were tied at 45 percent apiece.
The overall survey of 529 registered voters was taken from July 2-6 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percent. It included 288 GOP primary voters and 286 Democratic primary voters, and those groups have margins of error of plus or minus 5.8 percent.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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