Donald Trump has a double-digit lead over Ben Carson in the Republican presidential race and voters say they prefer change over political experience, two new national polls show.
Trump leads Carson 32% to 22%, in a new poll by The Washington Post and ABC News.
And the real estate mogul leads the retired neurosurgeon 28% to 18% in a new Fox News poll.
The two are trailed by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
In the Washington Post/ABC News poll, Rubio is in third at 11%, followed by Cruz at 8%, Bush at 6% and former tech CEO Carly Fiorina at 4%. In the Fox News poll, Rubio and Cruz are tied at 14% and Bush has 5%.
In both polls, no other candidates top 3% — a crucial marker, since debate sponsor CNN has announced that a 3.5% national average (or a 4% average in Iowa or New Hampshire) is necessary to make the cut for the next GOP presidential debate on December 15.
Trump has increasingly confronted Carson in recent weeks, highlighting media reports about his struggles to grasp foreign policy and difficulty documenting his stories of a violent youth.
In the Washington Post/ABC News survey, 52% of respondents said the attribute most important to them personally in selecting a candidate was that the person would bring change needed to Washington, while 28% said they prefer the most honest candidate and 11% said experience is most important.
That first segment is where Trump finds his support: 47% of those surveyed said Trump is the candidate best able to bring change to Washington, while 22% said Carson.
Carson is viewed as the most honest at 34% to Trump’s 23%. And Bush was picked as the contender with the best experience to be president at 33% to Trump’s 21%.
The Washington Post/ABC News poll surveyed 1,004 adults from November 16-19 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. The Fox News poll surveyed 1,016 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and the Republican primary results has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.
