Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson acknowledged his poll numbers are falling because “people feel that I don’t have foreign policy experience” during an Monday interview on “Good Morning America.”
According to a poll released Monday, Carson was dethroned in Iowa, the early voting state where the retired neurosurgeon’s wild popularity gave a boost to his national campaign. Carson is now polling fourth in the Hawkeye State, 11 points behind Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).
Carson said voters may feel uncomfortable because “I don’t have foreign policy experience.”
November was a tough month for Carson. He suggested during a debate that the Chinese have a ground presence in Syria. (The evidence his campaign later released was not compelling.) An adviser also publicly outted Carson’s inability to absorb foreign policy briefings.
“Well basically people feel that I don’t have foreign policy experience and I understand why that would be the case because they listen to the narrative that only politicians can fix this but the fact of the matter is if you look at all the people who are running, how many of them have had foreign policy experience?” Carson told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. “The answer is no, not, not many. Maybe Hillary.”
It should be noted that Hillary Clinton spent two years as U.S. Secretary of State, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) sits on the Senate Foreign Relations and Intelligence committees and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is a retired Air Force colonel.
Watch the interview, from ABC, below:
