Trump atop new poll; Kasich making gains

Yet another national poll of GOP voters shows Donald Trump leading the 2016 pack, while Ohio Gov. John Kasich climbs in the field and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush sputters.

{mosads}Trump is on top of the new Quinnipiac poll with 20 percent, the best showing of any GOP candidate in all of Quinnipiac’s polls of the field. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is next at 13 percent and Bush follows at 10 percent.

The new numbers also show a strong rise by Kasich, who announced his campaign just last week. He’s more than doubled his support since Quinnipiac’s last national survey in late May, which bodes well for his chances to be in the top 10 come the first Republican debate.

Bush’s share of the field has remained stagnant since that late-May poll, while Walker had a 3-point uptick.

Despite leading the field, Trump has the worst favorability score among the GOP field, which translates into a poor showing in a head-to-head match-up against Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. She’d defeat him by a margin of 48 percent to 36 percent, according to the poll.

Bush holds a narrow lead over Clinton — 42 percent to 41 percent — while Walker trails by 1 percentage point at a 44 percent to 43 percent margin. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Clinton’s main rival, falls to both Bush and Walker in hypothetical match-ups.

The pecking order is in sync with RealClearPolitics’ averages of recent polling, a possible sign that the slew of polls are starting to coalesce around a consensus order for the field.

Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), Ben Carson, Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee are tied in fourth place in the new poll with 6 percent. Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Kasich follow with 5 percent and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie rounds out the top 10 with 3 percent.

That top-10 threshold decides who will participate in next week’s Fox News debate.

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal are just on the outside with 2 percent, while Carly Fiorina, former Sen. Rick Santorum (Penn.) and former New York Gov. George Pataki round out the field with 1 percent.