GOP Primary Poll Shuffle: Walker, Carson Leading the Pack

In a fascinating shift over the past few weeks, Scott Walker has now assumed the top spot in a national poll of Republican primary voters. That doesn’t come as much of a surprise since he has jumped into campaign mode and is receiving lots of support from moderates and conservatives within the GOP. The major news, which is more interesting, is that Dr. Ben Carson comes in a strong second place.

Report from The Washington Times:

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is leading a host of potential 2016 GOP presidential contenders with 25 percent of the vote in a national poll on the nomination contest released Tuesday.

Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson is second at 18 percent, followed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 17 percent and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at 10 percent, according to the poll from the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling. [Emphasis added]

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas are at 5 percent apiece, followed by Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky at 4 percent and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry at 3 percent apiece.

Mr. Walker was at 11 percent in a PPP poll from last month, which 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney was leading with 21 percent of the vote, followed by Mr. Bush at 17 percent and Mr. Carson at 15 percent. After floating the possibility of entering the race, Mr. Romney said last month he is not running for president again in 2016.

Jeb Bush has remained fairly stagnant in these national polls since he announced an intention to explore a 2016 campaign. He took the top spot initially but hasn’t been able to climb past the eighteen to twenty percent mark. To see Carson one point ahead tells me that Jeb is having issues with the base in early primary states. I assumed he’d meet resistance, but this is pretty substantial given his recognition and party connections.

I assume that Carson doesn’t keep the second place spot but Walker very well may ride in the number one slot for quite some time until he falters or another flavor of the month comes out. However, you know what happens when you assume.