Donald Trump continues to lead the field of Republican presidential candidates in the first national poll conducted in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks.
And in a head-to-head matchup with his closest rival Ben Carson, Trump bests the retired neurosurgeon on his ability to address the problems facing the country and to “get things done.”
But Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, bests the brash billionaire on the personality front, viewed by Republican and Republican-leaning voters as more honest and trustworthy, and as having a temperament more suitable to the presidency, according to a Bloomberg Politics poll released Thursday.
Trump is in first place nationally with 24% of support among Republican and Republican-leaning voters, according to the poll. Carson takes second place with 20% support, while Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, catches third place with 12%.
The poll also asked Republican voters to pick between Trump and Carson on questions that compared the top two candidates’ personalities, policy positions and competence.
Nearly three-quarters of the Republicans surveyed said they believe Trump “knows the most about how to get things done” and would be better at managing the economy than Carson. Two-thirds of those surveyed also said Trump would do more to address illegal immigration and more than half said he would be better prepared to combat Islamic terrorism than Carson.
But Carson bested his billionaire rival on personality traits, with those surveyed calling him more caring, trustworthy and honest.
Nearly seven in 10 said Carson has a better temperament to be president than Trump.
And more than 60% said Carson is more honest and trustworthy and cares more about “people like you” when compared to Trump. And 62% put more faith in Carson’s ability to work effectively with Congress than Trump’s.
The poll did a similar candidate-to-candidate comparison with the new two candidates, Rubio and the fourth-place finisher Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who snagged 9% of support in the Bloomberg Politics survey.
The results were more even between those two candidates though Rubio generally bested Cruz, a hardline conservative who is staking his candidacy on his ideological bona fides and no-compromise mentality.
The poll’s Republican respondents picked Rubio over Cruz in looking at which candidate has the better temperament to be president, would work more effectively with Congress, and has the right values to lead the country.
Cruz beat out Rubio as the candidate who would do more to solve the problem of illegal immigration.
But the two candidates were in a dead heat on issues like managing the economy, knowing best how to get things done and combating Islamic terrorism.