Donald Trump is still the Republican presidential front-runner in the first formal national poll released since Wednesday's second GOP primary debate, but Carly Fiorina's strong debate performance has pushed her all the way to second place, bumping Ben Carson down to third.
The new CNN/ORC poll, conducted three days after the Sept. 14 debate, shows Trump at 24 percent, down from 32 percent in an early September poll.
Fiorina, a former Hewlett-Packard CEO, now sits in second place with 15 percent, up from 3 percent in the first week of September. During the debate, Fiorina butted heads with Trump over his personal attacks about her looks and the billionaire's debt-laden businesses. She also scored points for a strong diatribe against Planned Parenthood, according to CNN.
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who was in second before the debate, is now in third with 14 percent, down from 19 percent in the previous poll.
The success of all three candidates is interesting, as they are the only three candidates in the GOP field who have no formal political experience.
Among the establishment candidates, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio came out on top, taking fourth place with 11 percent. His improvement was credited to a strong foreign policy position flashed in the debate, according to Yahoo News. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush trails in fifth with 9 percent.
Rounding out the top 10 are Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee tied with 6 percent, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul with 4 percent, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie with 3 percent, Ohio Gov. John Kasich with 2 percent and former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania at 1 percent.
Many were shocked to see Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, once thought to be among the strongest and most qualified candidates, sink to less than one-half of one percent in CNN's latest poll.
The five other candidates to receive less than one-half of one percentage point are former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and former New York Gov. George Pataki.
Fifty-two percent of respondents in CNN's poll said Fiorina won the debate. Rubio came in second with 14 percent and Trump came in third with 11 percent.
Appearing Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union," Trump said he was a bit surprised at the latest poll results.
"Other polls have come out where I picked up after the debate," he said. "I'm in first place in every poll, but gained substantially in a couple of them. So I'm a little surprised but, you know, it's a poll."
The majority of respondents, 44 percent, said Trump is best equipped to handle the economy, followed by Fiorina with 11 percent, Rubio with 10 percent and Bush with 8 percent.
Trump also won on immigration, at 47 percent, with Rubio coming in second at 15 percent and Bush in third with 9 percent.
Trump even came out on top on foreign policy, an area he has been criticized for, with 22 percent, compared to Rubio's 17 percent.
The soft-spoken Carson was ranked as the most popular candidate, with 65 percent of Republican voters saying they view him favorably and only 10 percent saying they hold an unfavorable view.
Rubio came in second in the popularity contest, at 57 percent favorable and 16 percent unfavorable.
Fiorina follows with a 54 percent favorable to 17 percent unfavorable. She also had the biggest improvement in favorability ratings, while Trump in sixth place for favorability had the biggest drop, according to CNN.
