By Ryan Lovelace, Washington Examiner
A new national poll shows that no candidate has emerged as the front-runner among the Republican presidential candidates, but retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson holds a narrow lead at the head of the pack.
Monmouth University’s national survey released Monday shows Carson receiving support from 11 percent of Republican voters, followed by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker at 10 percent, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio tied at 9 percent.
Patrick Murray, director of Monmouth’s polling institute, noted that the results fail to show a top tier, much less a clear frontrunner.
Carson and Rubio gained the most ground — four percentage points — since Monmouth’s last poll in April, while Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, and Bush lost the most.
“While former governor Jeb Bush formally announces his candidacy today, it is fellow Floridian and current U.S. Senator Marco Rubio who seems to have enjoyed greater momentum in the past few weeks,” a release from Monmouth said.
Rubio, who released a statement welcoming Bush to the presidential race earlier Monday, has gained attention for being the subject of critical articles from the New York Times about his spending habits and his family’s traffic violations from the past few decades.
