Pundits Got It Wrong': Trump Opens Up Massive Lead in New Poll

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is the top choice of more than a third of Republicans, a new CNN/ORC poll released Friday found.

According to the poll, at 36 percent of support, Trump is leading his nearest GOP competitor, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, by 20 points. Cruz garnered 16 percent of support in the poll.

Compared to the last CNN/ORC national poll, which was released in mid-October, Cruz has quadruped his support from 4 percent to this month's 16 percent.

Republican presidential candidates in Milwaukee, Nov. 10. (Getty Images/Scott Olson)

Ben Carson and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio followed, receiving 14 percent and 12 percent of support, respectively. Carson saw the largest fall in the poll, dropping from 22 percent to 14 percent.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie received 4 percent of support, good enough to round out the top five. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina each received 3 percent.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Ohio Gov. John Katsich tied at 2 percent, while Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul rounded out the top 10 with just one percentage point of support.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, former New York Gov. George Pataki, and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore again registered no support in the poll.

Not only is Trump the commanding front-runner, but the poll also found that Republican likely voters see Trump as the candidate who could best handle the economy.

As CNN "New Day" host Alisyn Camerota put it when discussing the poll Friday morning, it appears "pundits got it wrong" on the viability of a Trump presidential bid.

The survey of 445 Republican and Republican-leaning voters was conducted between Nov. 27-Dec. 1. The margin of error is +/- 4.5 percent.

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