Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump remains in the lead in the early states of Iowa and New Hampshire, according to polls conducted after the second GOP presidential debate.
Mr. Trump was at 24 percent in the NBCNews/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll on Iowa, 5 points ahead of retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who was at 19 percent. Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina was next at 8 percent, followed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 7 percent and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal at 6 percent each.
A month ago, Mr. Trump had led Mr. Carson by 7 points, 29 percent to 22 percent, in Iowa.
In the New Hampshire poll, the billionaire businessman had a 5-point lead over Ms. Fiorina among GOP primary voters, 21 percent to 16 percent. Mr. Bush was next at 11 percent, followed by Mr. Rubio and Mr. Carson at 10 percent each.
A month ago, Mr. Trump had a 16-point, 28 percent to 12 percent advantage over his nearest competitor, Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
The polls were conducted Sept. 23-30. In Iowa, 431 potential Republican caucus-goers were surveyed with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.7 percentage points, and in New Hampshire, 450 potential GOP primary voters were surveyed with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.6 percentage points.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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