Trump holds post-debate lead in Iowa

Donald Trump has a healthy lead over the field of Republican presidential candidates in Iowa, according to the first poll of voters in the Hawkeye State since the GOP debate last week.

A new poll from the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling released Monday found Trump taking 19 percent support in Iowa, the first-in-the-nation caucus state.

{mosads}Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Ben Carson are tied for second place at 12 percent support each, followed by Jeb Bush at 11 percent, businesswoman Carly Fiorina at 10 percent and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz at 9 percent.

Walker spent months atop the polls in Iowa but in recent weeks has been overtaken by Trump, who has been surging.

Walker led the same poll from April with 23 percent support but has seen his support fall dramatically since Trump’s emergence. Trump’s favorability rating has increased in Iowa from 40 percent in April to 46 percent presently.

Trump leads the GOP field among Evangelical voters, self-described moderates, men, women and voters in every age group. He also leads on the question of who Republican voters believe is the most electable candidate in the general election.

The PPP survey also had good news for Carson and Fiorina, two political outsiders who have never before held elected office.

Carson, who takes 12 percent in the current survey, had been polling in the middle of the pack in Iowa, taking 5.8 percent according to the RealClearPolitics average of polls. He has the best favorability rating in the field at 69 percent positive and 10 percent negative.

Fiorina, who takes 10 percent in the new poll, has for months struggled to take more than 1 percent support in any poll. However, she was the consensus winner of Fox News’s undercard debate last Thursday and is believed by many to be primed for a breakout.

Fiorina’s favorability rating shot up from 30 percent in April to 56 percent presently.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee came in at 6 percent support each. No other candidates surpassed 3 percent support.

That’s a disappointing showing for Rubio, who was lauded by many pundits as one of the standout performers at the prime-time debate. He is among the biggest fallers in the poll, dropping from 13 percent in April to 6 percent presently.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton has a big lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), 52 percent to 25 percent. Clinton led the same poll in April 62 percent to 14 percent over Sanders.

Sanders has been pulling the biggest crowds of any candidate on either side, and the numbers are growing. The Sanders campaign said 28,000 people filled an arena in Portland for a campaign rally over the weekend.

But Clinton remains the heavy favorite in Iowa, with the RealClearPolitcs average of polls showing her with a nearly 30-point lead in the Hawkeye State.

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley came in third place among Democrats in Iowa at 7 percent support.

The PPP survey of 619 Republican primary voters was conducted between Aug. 7 and Aug. 9 and has a 3.9 percentage point margin of error. The survey of 567 Democratic primary voters has a 4.1 percentage point margin of error.