GOP Poll Numbers Reshuffle Following Paris Attack

Donald Trump has experienced a bump in his poll numbers following the terrorist attack in Paris while Ben Carson is witnessing a precipitous drop stemming from the same event. The trend is showing up in national polls as well as in New Hampshire where Carson has dropped from second place into single digits, well behind Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz who have taken the second and third spots respectively.

Report from AOL News:

Fox News released the results of its latest New Hampshire primary poll on Wednesday, and it doesn’t look good for Republican presidential hopeful Ben Carson.

The poll, the first conducted since Friday’s attacks in Paris, finds Donald Trump leading the GOP field with 27% of Republican primary voters. Marco Rubio came in second with 13%, with Ted Cruz trailing behind him at 11%.

Everyone else is in single digits.

Jeb Bush and Ben Carson received 9% each. Ohio Gov. John Kasich received 7% and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie received 6%.

What conclusions one can draw from the Fox poll are uncertain. Fifty-five percent of GOP primary voters surveyed said that they could change their mind before the primary.

The Fox News poll was conducted from November 15 to 17 by telephone and live interviewers from Anderson Robbins Research and Shaw and Co. Research.

The results of the poll mirror that of another poll released Wednesday, one conducted by Boston NPR station WBUR. In that poll, also surveying Republican primary voters in New Hampshire, Trump received 23% of Republican primary voters. Rubio tied with Carson for second place with 13%.

Though Carson remains one of the most favorable candidates in the GOP race, Carson’s favorability rating in New Hampshire has notably dipped.

Some analysts are saying that as the race winds into December and January, the “outsiders” like Trump and Carson will start to fade as GOP voters begin to seriously consider Commander-in-Chief qualities. That bug appears to be biting Carson though Trump seems unfazed at this point, perhaps even benefiting from it. Likewise, Rubio and Cruz are also getting a bounce as Carson is knocked down and Bush supporters seem to desert to Rubio.

With Jindal’s exit and the recent terrorist attack, the race is going through a realignment of sorts. This topic will be front and center at the next Republican debate on December 15.