Online poll: Carson slips, leaving Trump on top

Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson has slipped in a new NBC News/Survey Monkey online poll, leaving celebrity businessman Donald Trump alone again at the top of the Republican presidential field.

{mosads}Trump holds the top spot at 28 percent among Republican and Republican-leaning independents, while Carson has dropped 8 points from the same online survey conducted last month. Online surveys are generally considered less scientific.

That puts Carson neck-and-neck with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) at 18 percent in the new poll. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), another top contender, follows at 11 percent.

Cruz, who has pushed back hard against allowing Syrian refugees into the U.S. after the terror attacks in Paris, now leads among those who identify as “very conservative” at 40 percent, beating both Carson (15 percent) and Trump (28 percent).

Rubio and Cruz have sparred since the the fourth GOP debate last week on issues of illegal immigration and national security, while Trump has seen leads in several other polls after the Paris attacks.

Meanwhile, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush stands at 4 percent in the latest survey, while New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina take 3 percent each.

The online poll of 2,440 Republican and Republican-leaning voters was conducted Nov. 15-17 with an estimated margin of error of 2.9 points.