Poll: Despite McCain comments, Trump atop GOP field

Billionaire businessman Donald Trump stands atop the 2016 GOP presidential field in the first national poll since he was roundly criticized for his comments about Sen. John McCain’s war record.

{mosads}Trump holds 18 percent support among Republicans in a CNN/ORC International Poll released Sunday morning. Jeb Bush follows in second place with 15 percent.

Since a similar poll in late June, Trump’s support has risen 6 percentage points.

“There’s a movement going on, this is more than me,” Trump said while discussing the latest poll results Sunday morning on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “People are tired of these incompetent politicians in Washington I can’t say I’m unhappy or anything, I’m just not that surprised.”

The poll also found that most Republican voters want Donald Trump to remain in the GOP presidential race.

Fifty two percent of registered Republicans and Republican-leaning independents want the outspoken real estate magnate to stay in the race, according to the CNN/ORC poll.

Thirty three percent want him to drop out, however, and 15 percent say he should run as an independent.

Trump told The Hill in an exclusive interview last week that he would consider a third-party run if RNC leaders were unfair to him during the primary process.

Among all respondents, 40 percent expect former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to be the Republican nominee.

Eighteen percent think Trump will be the nominee and 11 percent think Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker will emerge as the GOP nominee.

Thirty one percent of Republicans, however, expect Bush to represent the party in 2016. Twenty two percent predicted Trump will be the nominee and 14 percent selected Walker.

The poll of 1,017 adults was conducted between July 22 and 25th, after Trump mocked McCain’s time as a prisoner of war, drawing condemnation from a broad spectrum of Republicans. The poll has a 3.5 percentage point margin of error.

–Sarah Ferris contributed to this report, which was updated at 11:41 a.m.