Ben Carson is leading the GOP presidential field for the first time in South Carolina, according to a new poll released Monday.
The retired neurosurgeon currently earns 28 percent support in the latest Monmouth University poll of Republicans in the early voting state, marking a 13-point jump since voters were last surveyed in August.
Donald Trump, who’s led his Republican rivals for more than three consecutive months in South Carolina, has fallen to second place at 27 percent. Trump still remains well within the poll’s 4.9 percent margin of error against Carson.
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In a hypothetical bracket including Trump, Carson, Carly Fiorina and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a strong anti-establishment candidate, Carson dominates the pack at 39 percent support. Trump comes in second with 30 percent while Cruz and Fiorina score 15 and 9 percent, respectively.
Overall, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who’s in the midst of his “Jeb Can Fix It” campaign reboot, has dropped from third to fifth place at 7 percent support in the Palmetto State. Bush is now led by Cruz (9 percent) and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (11 percent). Sen. Lindsey Graham, who’s home state is South Carolina, has dropped to 1 percent in the state while Fiorina has sunk to just 2 percent.
Rubio maintains a strong lead among his rivals who’ve held public office. The freshman senator, who’s surged in both Iowa and New Hampshire since delivering a strong performance in the last Republican debate, earns 32 percent support when polled against Bush, Graham, Mike Huckabee, Bobby Jindal, Chris Christie, John Kasich and Rand Paul. Bush and Christie were the only other candidates with political experience to earn 10 percent or more.
Rubio also fares particularly well among voters age 65 and older. Trump leads this demographic with 26 percent, while Rubio follows at 19 percent. Carson, meanwhile, dominates the younger crowd. Thirty-eight percent of South Carolina Republicans age 50 and younger back the esteemed doctor and outsider candidate.
The latest survey of 401 Republican primary voters in South Carolina was conducted from Nov. 5-8. Results contain a margin of error plus or minus 4.9 percent.
