Businessman Donald Trump continues to lead the crowded GOP presidential field by double digits in a USA Today/Suffolk University poll released Wednesday.
Trump is supported by 23 percent of likely GOP primary voters nationally, followed by retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and businesswoman Carly Fiorina at 13 percent each.
{mosads}Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) follows in the poll at 9 percent, along with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 8 percent – dropping from second to fifth place – and Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) at 6 percent.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) each received 2 percent support in the poll.
That 10-point lead by Trump indicates his biggest lead from the field of more than a dozen candidates compared to five other national polls released in the past few weeks.
Trump has led the crowded GOP field for more than two months in polling, but saw some of his momentum apparently fade a bit following the second Republican debate last month.
Similar to other recent polls, the latest survey finds an overwhelming percentage of Americans, 61 percent, viewing Trump unfavorably, compared to 27 percent who view him favorably.
Meanwhile, Carson and Fiorina both net positive favorability ratings in the survey.
The most common words used to described Trump were “idiot,” “jerk,” “stupid” and “dumb,” while the most common words to describe Fiorina were “smart, intelligent” and “knowledgeable.”
The survey of 380 likely Republican primary voters was conducted Sept. 24-28 with a margin of error of 5 points. The overall sample of 1,000 likely voters has a margin of 3 points.