Poll: Trump's lead grows nationwide

MONMOUTH, N.J., Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Donald Trump's lead in polls shows no signs of waning as a Monmouth University Poll has the real estate mogul surpassing his GOP rivals with a whopping 41 percent.

The poll, released Monday, shows Trump's advantage is a considerably larger than in October, when the same poll showed him ahead with 28 percent. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is the distant runner-up with 14 percent, up just four points from where he was polling in October.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., jumped four points to 10 percent, landing him in third place. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson lost half of the support he had in October's poll. Monday's numbers showed Carson at 9 percent.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Ohio Gov. John Kasich are both polling at three percent -- a boost for Kasich and a slight drop for Bush.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and former HP head Carly Fiorina all tie at two percent, each of them losing points since October. Fiorina suffered the biggest drop among them, falling from 6 percent in October's poll.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and former New York Gov. George Pataki bring up the rear with one percent each.

Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., polls at less than one percent. In October, he polled at zero. Down at zero this time around is former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, who has consistently polled at zero since April.

The poll was conducted from Dec. 10-13 and surveyed 1,006 adults with a margin of error of +/- 5 percentage points.