Trump's 'massive' margin: Up 20 points in latest poll

By Ryan Lovelace, Ryan Lovelace

Published December 20, 2015

Donald Trump has opened a 20-point lead on the Republican presidential field, according to a new CNN/ORC survey.

The poll shows Trump received the support of 36 percent of registered voters, while Texas Sen. Ted Cruz came in second with 16 percent. Ben Carson is third with 14 percent, and no other candidate scored more than 4 percent.

Carson has dropped 8 percentage points since October's CNN/ORC survey, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush lost 5 percentage points. Friday's poll shows Bush receiving support from three percent of respondents.

"[T]he new poll finds [Trump] the businessman with both his broadest support and his widest lead in any national live-interviewer telephone poll since he announced his candidacy in June," wrote CNN. "The poll reflects Trump's dominance over the rest of the field on the issues voters deem most important to them."