Amid Trump bombast, quiet Carson rises in GOP’s 2016 field

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Donald Trump may be making a lot of the noise — but a quieter candidate has joined him atop the field of Republican presidential candidates heading into Wednesday night’s debate.

Ben Carson has tapped into the same wave of anti-establishment outrage that has fueled the rise of Trump.

Carson — a brain surgeon who is the only African-American seeking the White House next year — had been dismissed as a novice who lacked a national profile or any significant political network, and who was prone to making gaffes.

But he appears to be connecting with Republican voters at a rate that even his closest aides didn’t predict.

A New York Times/CBS News poll today finds Carson favored by 23 percent of likely Republican primary voters, compared to Trump’s 27 percent. Jeb Bush and Scott Walker have plummeted to 6 percent and 2 percent respectively.

But nearly two-thirds of those surveyed said they could change their minds before the Iowa caucuses in February.

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