Fiorina jumps to second place in post-debate poll

Carly Fiorina has pushed to second place in the crowded Republican presidential field following a strong performance in the second GOP debate, according to a new poll.

The CNN/ORC International poll released Sunday morning shows Fiorina with 15 percent support among Republican respondents, up from 3 percent in a similar poll earlier this month.

Fiorina was widely praised for directly attacking Donald Trump at Wednesday night’s debate.

Fifty-two percent of Republicans said Fiorina won the debate, compared to 31 percent who said Trump was the winner.

Trump remains the front-runner with 24 percent, pollsters found. His support fell 8 percentage points from earlier this month, however.

Ben Carson also slipped in the latest ranking, down 5 points to 14 percent. 

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) jumped 8 points to grab the fourth spot with 11 percent.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker took the largest hit in CNN’s newest poll, in which he had less than 0.5 percent of the vote. That compares with 5 percent in the previous survey.

The CNN/ORC poll, conducted Sept. 17-19, has a margin of 4.5 percentage points for Republican respondents.

— Timothy Cama contributed to this report, which was updated at 9:26 a.m.