WASHINGTON U.S. presidential hopeful Donald Trump's support among Republicans has dropped 12 points in less than a week, marking the real estate mogul's biggest decline since he vaulted to the top of the field in July, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. 
 
 Trump was the favorite of 31 percent of Republicans in a rolling poll in the five days ended on Nov. 27. That was down from a peak of 43 percent registered on Nov. 22. 
 
 The dip follows criticism of Trump for comments he made in the aftermath of the Nov. 13 Paris attacks that killed 130 people and wounded hundreds more. 
 
 Following the attacks, Trump told an NBC News reporter that he would support requiring all Muslims within the United States to be registered to a special database, which his critics have likened to the mandatory registration of Jews in Nazi Germany. 
 
 Trump has also been criticized for flailing his arms and distorting his speech as he mocked a New York Times reporter, Serge Kovaleski, who is disabled. 
 
 Trump mocked the reporter as he defended his unsubstantiated assertion that during the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, he watched on television as "thousands and thousands" of people in New Jersey cheered while the World Trade Center fell. 
 
 Still, Trump is not the only front-runner to slide in the latest survey. 
 
 Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson has seen his poll numbers drift downward and now trails Trump by more than half, with just 15 percent of Republicans polled saying they would vote for him in the same Nov. 27 poll. As recently as late October, Carson trailed Trump by only six points. 
 
 Following Carson, Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Texas Senator Ted Cruz are tied for third place, with more than 8 percent each. 
 
 Following Rubio and Cruz was former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, with 7 percent. 
 
 The five-day rolling average sample size ranged from 464 to 347 respondents between Nov. 22 and Nov. 27, with a credibility interval of 5.2 to 6.1 percentage points. 
 
 For more on the 2016 U.S. presidential race and to learn about the undecided voters who determine elections, visit the Reuters website. (here) 
 
 (Editing by Caren Bohan and Andrew Hay) ||||| Republican frontrunner Donald Trump is pulling away in a new poll. 
 
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 The real estate mogul dominates a new national CNN/ORC poll released Friday morning, leading by a whopping 20 percentage points after climbing 9 points since mid-October to 36 percent support. He's now more than doubled the support of his nearest rivals, Sen. Ted Cruz with 16 percent, Ben Carson with 14 percent and Sen. Marco Rubio with 12 percent. 
 
 This marks Trump's highest support and widest lead since he first announced his candidacy. 
 
 Chris Christie has the next highest support with just 4 percent. Jeb Bush dropped 5 points in the last several weeks to match Carly Fiorina with just 3 percent support. Mike Huckabee and John Kasich have 2 percent support and Rand Paul garnered 1 percent. 
 
 Ben Carson, plagued by questions over his past and doubts by voters on foreign policy in the wake of the Paris attacks, dropped 8 percentage points since mid-October. Meanwhile, Ted Cruz, focusing his efforts on the first-in-the-nation caucus state of Iowa, has climbed 12 points. 
 
 More than half of Republicans - 52 percent say Trump has the best chance of winning the general election in November, widely leading Rubio with 15 percent, Cruz with 11 percent and Carson with 10 percent. This comes despite Trump's low favorability ratings among independents in other polls. 
 
 Majorities of Republicans say Trump is the best candidate to handle the economy and the federal budget. He is also the most trusted candidate by far on illegal immigration and ISIS. 
 
 Trump is also the top candidate on foreign policy, though Cruz and Rubio trail him in that category by only 13 and 16 points respectively. 
 
 The GOP nomination horserace question in this poll followed several questions about illegal immigration and mass deportation, both staples of Donald Trump's campaign. 
 
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– Donald Trump's antics last week, including attacks on a disabled reporter and questionable recollections of 9/11, may have been the last straw for some supporters, the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll suggests. The poll put his support at 31% for the week ending on Nov. 27, down from 43% a week earlier, marking Trump's biggest poll drop since he became the front-runner in July, though Ben Carson isn't closing the gap: His numbers have also dropped and he is now a distant second at 15%, according to the poll, with Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz tied for third at 8% apiece and Jeb Bush fifth at 7%. But even with the latest fall, Trump's staying power has surprised Republican insiders, who now admit that he could win early voting states including Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. "I do not think the media or the party establishment have a real grasp on how deep the anger and frustration is around the country," a South Carolina Republican tells Politico. "I still do not know if he can sustain it into the New Year—but after the Paris attacks, his stance on illegal immigration and unverified people coming into our nation has real impact." (Four GOP rivals are getting equal time from NBC for Trump's Saturday Night Live appearance.)