The latest CNN poll shows Donald Trump 20 points ahead of the rest of the Republican field, while Texas Sen. Ted Cruz jumped 12 points and moved into second place.
Trump came in with 36 percent in the CNN/ORC poll released Friday, followed by Cruz, a tea party favorite, at 16 percent, and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 14 percent. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio took 12 percent, and all other candidates received less than five percent.
Trump picked up nine points from the CNN/ORC poll conducted in mid-October, while Carson dropped nine points and Rubio gained four points. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush fell five points to three percent, and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky fell by four points to one percent, reported The Washington Times.
"Several other recent polls have shown Trump reclaiming a solid lead atop the GOP field after several weeks of near parity with Carson," said CNN. "But the new poll finds 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."
When considering support among only college educated voters, "the race is a close contest between the top four contenders, with Cruz slightly in front at 22%, Carson and Rubio tied at 19% and Trump at 18%. Among those without college degrees, Trump holds a runaway lead: 46% support the businessman, compared with 12% for Cruz, 11% for Carson and just 8% for Rubio," CNN said.
Voters said that Trump is the most trusted candidate to handle the economy, receiving 48 percent more support than his nearest competitor. Respondents also picked Trump as the most trusted to handle the federal budget, illegal immigration, the Islamic State group and foreign policy.
More generally, most Republicans, 42 percent, also said that Trump would be most effective at solving the country's problems, compared to 14 percent who picked Carson, 12 percent Cruz and 10 percent Rubio. Respondents also thought that Trump could best handle the responsibilities of being president.
Fifty-two percent of voters said that they think Trump is the candidate with the best chances to win the general election next November, compared to 15 percent for Rubio, 11 percent for Cruz and 10 percent for Carson.
On immigration, 63 percent disagreed with Trump's proposal to deport all people living in the country illegally, while 81 percent said that mass deportation would be impossible. Forty-seven percent said that such an effort would harm the economy, while only 29 percent thought it would help. A narrow majority of Republicans, 53 percent, think that the government should deport all illegal aliens.
The poll was conducted between Nov. 27 and Dec. 1 among a sample of 1,020 voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percent.
