Poll: GOP Voters Trust Carson And Trump Most With Nuclear Weapons

Republican voters said that Donald Trump and Ben Carson are the candidates best suited to take charge of the United States’ stockpile of nuclear weapons, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Tuesday.

In the online poll, 39 percent of respondents said they would trust the retired pediatric neurosurgeon with our nuclear codes, with the real estate mogul in a close second at 34 percent.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), whose hawkish foreign policy views are a cornerstone of his campaign, came in third with 27 percent.

Trump and Carson have been neck-and-neck in a spate of recent national polls, and received similar “trust” ratings for several questions in the Reuters/Ipsos survey. Both earned 40 percent of respondents’ support for their respective abilities to be commander in chief of the armed forces, and 41 percent said they most trusted Trump to deal with foreign leaders, compared to 39 percent for Carson.

Only on economic issues did Trump take a commanding lead, earning 59 percent for his ability to manage the economy. Carson received 36 percent. In terms of overall support, Trump was favored by 31 percent of Republicans, with Carson in second place at 18 percent.

On issues like nuclear weapons and the economy, the poll left out some GOP candidates who had low overall support, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (SC).

The online survey of 1,848 adults from all 50 states was conducted between Oct. 28 and Nov. 2. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.