A new NBC News/Survey Monkey poll taken after the first GOP presidential debate finds Donald Trump still leading the field with 23%, followed by Ted Cruz at 13%, Ben Carson at 11%, Carly Fiorina at 8%, Marco Rubio at 8%, Jeb Bush at 7%, and Scott Walker at 7%.
Chuck Todd explained on Meet the Press that it was a “scientific” online survey. I am not sure what that means, since online surveys are by their very nature not random, and thus the poll can’t really be scientific, so take this poll for what it is worth. But for those of us who are poll starved and curious to see what affect the debate had on the polls, this is our first clue.
My takes: I don’t have the internals, so I don’t have the full numbers, but there is no Kasich surge, which means I was right. The base finds Kasich’s embrace of gay marriage and Obamacare as disqualifying. Further, Trump did himself no harm at the debate so far. His Kelly remarks? We will have to wait and see. Bush and Walker’s subpar performances sent their numbers plummeting.