WASHINGTON—Billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump continues to lead the crowded field of U.S. Republican presidential candidates while Hillary Clinton is the top Democrat.

A newly-released poll of 1,200 voters by CBS News gives Trump 27 percent support among Republicans. He is followed by another political novice, former neurosurgeon Ben Carson, with 21 percent.

None of the other 13 Republican candidates gets double-digit support. Texas Senator Ted Cruz scores 9 percent, with Florida Senator Marco Rubio at 8 percent.

The flamboyant Trump has attracted support from Republican voters angered at Washington by taunting his opponents as losers and as weak.

On the sensitive issue of gun control, Trump told CBS television’s Face the Nation Sunday someone carrying a gun might have prevented the recent massacre at an Oregon college and admitted that he sometimes carries a concealed weapon.

“I feel much better being armed,” Trump said. “I like to have myself protected.”

On another CBS broadcast Sunday, 60 Minutes, President Barack Obama called Trump “a great publicity seeker” and a “classic reality TV character.” But he said Trump will not be the next president.

For the Democrats, the CBS poll shows former secretary of state Hillary Clinton far out in front with 46 percent of voter support, followed by independent Senator Bernie Sanders with 27 percent. Vice President Joe Biden, who has yet to declare his candidacy, has 16 percent.

Obama told the 60 Minutes broadcast that while Clinton’s use of a single e-mail server for both official and private business when she was secretary of state was a mistake, he does not believe it endangered national security. He said fierce criticism of Clinton by many Republicans over the issue is a result of politics.

Finally, Obama said if he were allowed by the constitution to run for a third term, he believes he could be reelected.

Source : VOA

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