A poll of Iowa voters shows that the surge of support for Ben Carson is real.
Carson is now leading national frontrunner Donald Trump by nine points in Iowa with 28 percent of the vote, according to the Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics Iowa Poll released this morning. That’s up 10 points from the same poll conducted in August.
Trump comes in second with 19 percent, while Sen. Ted Cruz gets third place with 10 percent support.
Carson endured an onslaught of negative media coverage after pointing out that Hitler supported gun control.
“The likelihood of Hitler being able to accomplish his goals would have been greatly diminished if the people had been armed,” he said.
A Quinnipiac poll released Thursday also showed Carson enjoying an eight point lead.
Carson’s favorability ratings are still well above other Republican candidates with 84 percent. Only 12 percent see Carson unfavorably.
Here is how the poll stacks up:
Carson 28
Trump 19
Cruz 10
Rubio 9
Bush 5
Rand 5
Fiorina 4
Huckabee 3
Jindal 2
Kasich 2
Santoroum 2
Christie 1
When asked what candidate likely Iowa caucus goers could never support, Carson was on the bottom with 10 percent.
Here is the ranking of Republican presidential candidates that poll respondents said they could “never” vote for.
Graham 63
Pataki 63
Gilmore 59
Christie 48
Kasich 45
Rand 45
Jeb! 40
Santroum 38
Trump 34
Huckabee 31
Jindal 29
Cruz 27
Fiorina 23
Rubio 20
Carson 10
The Iowa poll, conducted October 16-19, included 401 likely Republican caucus participants.