Outsider candidates Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina top the GOP presidential field in California, earning a combined 42 percent support among registered Republicans in the state, according to a new poll.
The Field Poll, released Thursday, shows Trump leading his Republican rivals with 17 percent support among California Republicans, while Carson follows at 15 percent. Meanwhile, Fiorina comes just shy of tying Carson for second place with 13 percent support. Trump, Carson and Fiorina also rank first, second and third, respectively, in the Washington Examiner‘s presidential power rankings.
Both Fiorina, a former tech executive, and Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, have jumped 10 percentage points since the last poll of GOP voters in California was taken in May.
Forty-five percent of Republican voters in the same poll indicated they prefer “political outsider” candidates to “traditional Republican” candidates. That number rose to 53 percent among voters who described themselves as “strongly conservative” and 51 percent among voters who choose to affiliate with the Tea Party movement.
Despite leading the GOP field at 17 percent, only one in every five respondents believe Trump will eventually secure the Republican Party’s nomination. In fact, 44 percent of likely GOP primary voters in the Golden State said they would be dissatisfied or upset if the billionaire were to become the nominee, a trend that could be tied to concerns that Trump would fare poorly in the general election.
According to the poll, only 26 percent of voters are “very confident” the real estate mogul could defeat the Democratic nominee while 37 percent are “not confident” at all. Four percent of voters had no opinion and 33 percent were somewhat confident in Trump’s ability to win a general election.
The survey of roughly 1,000 registered voters, among which 214 indicated they are likely to vote in California’s Republican primary next June, took place from Sept. 17-Oct. 4. Results carry a maximum sampling error of plus or minus 7 percent.
