Ben Carson, Republican primary leader. Roll that one around in your mind, why don't you? Because
a second national poll puts Carson in first, ahead of longtime leader Donald Trump.
According to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll conducted October 25 to 29—mostly before but some after the third Republican debate—Carson leads with 29 percent support, more than any other leader has had to date. Trump is in second with 23 percent, followed by Marco Rubio at 11 percent and Ted Cruz at 10 percent. In a poll taken 10 days earlier, Trump led with 25 percent, Carson was in second with 22 percent, and Rubio and Cruz were in third and fourth with 13 percent and nine percent respectively. So Carson gained seven points while Trump and annointed debate winner Rubio each lost two points (which could be noise or could be the beginning of a trend).
His overall lead isn't the only good news for Carson:
In addition to leading the GOP field, Carson also becomes the first GOP candidate in the NBC/WSJ poll to get majority support as either a first or second choice among GOP primary voters.
A combined 50 percent of Republican voters pick Carson as either their first or second choice in the GOP presidential race — followed by 35 percent for Trump, 24 percent for Rubio and 23 percent for Cruz.
Carson will probably have his moment in the sun and then fade as another candidate rises, but it sure is fun to dream that we could get so lucky.