Ben Carson has edged ahead of Donald Trump nationally in the US battle for the Republican presidential nomination, a new poll showed Tuesday, the latest sign of slippage for the brash billionaire. The results mark the first time Trump has been dislodged from the top of the broad Republican field in months, and reflect continued preference for outsider candidates more than 13 months before the 2016 presidential election.
The New York Times/CBS News survey show Carson, a retired pediatric neurosurgeon who has never held public office, is the presidential pick of 26 percent of respondents, compared with 22 percent for Trump, although the difference lies within the margin of error of six percentage points.