Donald Trump leads by more than 20 points in new national poll

"Donald Trump is drowning them all out", said Joan Griffin, an undecided voter from Portsmouth, New Hampshire who attended a Kasich town hall earlier this week. Ted Cruz now a clear - yet distant - second after a strong debate performance, a new CNN/ORC poll released on Wednesday has found. Cruz has the most momentum, picking up 11 points from his 14 percent standing in early November.

Contrary to the prediction of many pundits, Trump has steadily retained his lead among GOP candidates since July despite he has repeatedly made controversial, or even provocative, statements on the sensitive issues of race, women, and immigration.

Cruz seems to have benefited in Iowa from the collapse in support for Ben Carson among religious conservatives.

More than half of GOP voters, 57 percent, said Trump was best able to handle the economy.

Add this to a possible Trump loss in Iowa to Cruz, who will likely eat up some of Trump's support in New Hampshire as part of a polling bounce should he win the first contest and Trump could be left without a victory in the first two primaries. Almost 60 percent of voters who picked a preferred candidate said that they remain open to changing their mind. That consolidation is reflected in voters' overall preferences.

His strength in the survey is based largely on Republican voters' belief that he is best suited to handle the top issues facing the US.

For the first time in the splintered race for the Republican nomination for president, former Florida governor and onetime front-runner Jeb Bush this week directly criticized Governor Christie's executive record, telling a reporter in New Hampshire that "New Jersey hasn't done well" and suggesting that Christie has not done "big things". According to the poll, 46% of Republican voters said Republicans would have a better chance to win the 2016 election with Trump as the nominee.

Analysts noted the equally baffling fact of a sharp contrast in the results of the latest telephone poll and a poll conducted by a research firm called Morning Consult, which found that 38 percent of respondents who participated via a Web form said they supported Trump, compared with 32 percent who responded through a phone call.

"It's ironic that Trump leads with moderates, because the views of his supporters wouldn't be considered moderate by most standards", PPP said in its press release. Rand Paul gets 4%, sandwiched between Chris Christie's 5% and Jeb Bush's 3%. On Tuesday, a poll from Quinnipiac University had Donald Trump in the lead, but by only four points - his smallest margin in months.

The poll indicates that his recent anti-Muslim rhetoric and comments against Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton has had no impact on the popularity of Trump, who announced to join politics only this summer. His favorables (66) are almost as high as Rubio's (69 percent). He's also posted the largest increase in favorability rating among all adults since September, climbing from 27% favorable in September to 45% now, an 18-point gain.

Seventy-four percent of Democrats said they would accept Syrian refugees in the U.S., while 82 percent of Republicans would not, the poll showed. Slightly fewer say either sentiment applies to Trump (63% values, 60% proud) or Rubio (64% values, 62% proud).

CHRISTIE: He says he'll be "very competitive" in SC if he has a good showing in New Hampshire. Well, it turns out the polls may be under-representing just how popular Trump is - and that's truly eye-opening.

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz said Tuesday he believes the still-crowded GOP field is slowly becoming a "two-man race" between himself and real estate mogul Donald Trump.