Conservative Candidate Surges to Tie Ben Carson for Second Place in NBC Poll; Donald Trump Remains on Top

White House hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) continues his surge in national polling, while Donald Trump continues to enjoy the front-runner position among Republican candidates, a new NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll found.

According to the poll, Trump is leading the 14-man field with 28 percent of support. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Cruz tied for the second spot, each garnering 18 percent. It was an eight-point drop for Carson compared to just one month ago.

Republican candidates debate in Milwaukee, November 10, 2015. (Getty Images/Scott Olson)

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio took the fourth position with 11 percent. The rest of the candidates polled below 5 percent, as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush took fifth place with just 4 percent of support.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina tied with 3 percent.

Kentucky Sen. Ran Paul, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Ohio Gov. John Kasich each garnered 2 percent of support, while former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum registered just a single percentage point.

Former New York Gov. George Pataki, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore did not receive a single point of support.

The survey of 5,755 adults was conducted online between Nov. 15-17. It had an overall margin of error of +/- 1.9 percent.

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