New poll confirms huge Trump lead over GOP rivals

By Kelly Cohen, Kelly Cohen

Published December 20, 2015

A new national poll confirms that Donald Trump is pulling away from his GOP rivals.

The billionaire businessman sits at 38 percent among registered Republicans and GOP-leaning independents in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll released the morning of the fifth presidential debate.

He's followed by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz at 15 percent, which gives Trump a 23-point lead. In third are Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 12 percent, while all other candidates remain in the single digits. With 5 percent, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush rounds out the top five candidates.

A Monmouth poll released Monday put Trump at 41 percent nationally, and had him 27 points ahead of Cruz.