A McClatchy/Marist GOP presidential primary poll released Monday shows Ben Carson with a narrow 24% to 23% lead over Donald Trump — followed by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio at 12% and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 8% each.
But the best news for Carson, Rubio and Cruz could be that likely Republican primary voters overwhelmingly say the more they hear about them, the more they like them.
For Carson, 67% of Republicans said that’s the case — while 20% said the more they hear about him, the less they like him.
For Rubio, the splits were 58% to 27%, and for Cruz they were 51% to 31%. Carly Fiorina does well too, at 46% to 34%.
But for Bush and Trump, the opposite is true: 44% of Republicans say they like Trump more as they hear more about him, while 49% say they like him less. And for Bush, the numbers are 32% and 58%.
The poll surveyed 431 Republicans and Republican leaning independents between October 29-November 4 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.7 percentage points.
That means it was largely conducted before recent news reports scrutinizing Carson’s biography and Rubio’s finances were published. The poll was, however, conducted after the first three Republican presidential debates. The GOP field will meet for its fourth debate Tuesday night.