A third poll released in the past five days put retired pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson on top in Iowa.
Carson now leads celebrity tycoon Donald Trump by 14 points in a Monmouth University poll of likely Iowa Republican caucusgoers released Monday.
Carson polled at 32 percent, followed by Trump at 18 percent. In Monmouth’s August poll, both men were tied at 23 percent.
Among evangelical Christian voters polled, Carson beat Trump 36 to 18, which increased his 6-point advantage from this demographic in August.
A Quinnipiac poll released Thursday had Carson leading Trump 28 to 20 points. A Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register poll put Carson ahead 28 to 19 points.
Sens. Ted Cruz (TX) and Marco Rubio (FL) were the only other candidates to poll in double digits (10 percent) among Republicans in the Monmouth poll.
The next Republican debate is scheduled for Wednesday in Boulder, Colorado on CNBC.
The poll was conducted among 400 voters likely to attend the Iowa Republican caucus from Ot. 22 to 25 by telephone. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.9 percent.
