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Trump still in the lead after debate, poll shows

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ASSOCIATED PRESS
This combination made from Aug. 6 photos shows republican presidential candidate Donald Trump

If Donald Trump’s comments about Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly are hurting his standing in the Republican primary, it’s not showing in the numbers.

Trump is at the top of the list of GOP candidates that Republican primary voters would cast a ballot for if the primary were being held right now, according to the latest NBC News Online Poll conducted by SurveyMonkey.

The overnight poll was conducted for 24 hours from Friday evening into Saturday. During that period, Donald Trump stayed in the headlines due to his negative comments about Kelly and was dis-invited from a major conservative gathering in Atlanta.

None of that stopped Trump from coming in at the top of the poll with 23 percent, up from 22 percent last week. Sen. Ted Cruz was next on the list with 13 percent, up sharply from six percent.

During the Fox News debate Thursday evening, Trump was the only Republican candidate to say he would not rule out a run as an independent candidate. According to this poll, that’s just fine with over half of his supporters.

Fifty-four percent of Trump supporters said they would vote for him for president, even if he didn’t win the GOP nomination. About one in five Trump supporters said they would switch and support the eventual Republican candidate.

The surprise result from the poll might have been businesswoman Carly Fiorina’s performance. Twenty-two said she won the debate, besting Trump, Sen. Marco Rubio and Cruz.

In overall support, she came in fourth with eight percent of Republican primary voters saying they would support her in a primary or a caucus. This may not seem like a lot, but she had a gain in support of six points, which was the second highest in the poll.

Fiorina may have benefited from stepped up media coverage due to her performance in the so-called “Happy Hour” debate that aired on Thursday before the prime-time event.

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