REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Trump listens to a question from a reporter at a campaign fundraiser at the home of car dealer Ernie Boch Jr. in Norwood, Massachusetts August 28, 2015.
A new Monmouth University poll released on Monday showed Trump and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson tied for the lead among likely Iowa Republican caucus-goers. Both men got 23% of the vote.
According to Monmouth, Monday's poll is the first major poll since mid-July to show the real estate magnate yielding sole control of top spot in one of the early-voting states. Trump has also led every major national Republican poll since early July.
Carson, like Trump, is a political outsider that appeals to an electorate looking for such a candidate. And he has been surging in polls taken after the first Republican presidential debate earlier this month.
But the news still isn't bad for Trump - both he and Carson are far ahead of their Republican rivals in the Hawkeye State.
The next-closest candidate was former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina with 10% of the vote. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who had 9%, and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (7%) rounded out the top five.
And Trump still leads among voters who say they are relatively certain who they will vote for. Among that group, Trump leads with 30%, while only 22% of voters support Carson.
"Trump's support is currently more solid than Carson's, but Iowa voters are still considering quite a few candidates before they come to a final decision," said Patrick Murray, the director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute.
The results closely resemble those of other recent Iowa polls, which have shown Carson surging as a potential foil to Trump's rise.
A Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register poll published on Saturday also found Trump at 23%. Carson grabbed 18% in that poll, which was well within striking distance considering the poll's 4.9% margin-of-error.
Thomson Reuters
Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson speaks at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines
But the polls show that Trump is gaining steam in another important metric that signals that more Republicans may be coming around to his candidacy.
In Saturday's Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register poll, 61% of Iowa Republicans responded that they view him either mostly or very favorably, compared with just 35% who view the reality television star unfavorably. That's almost a direct reversal of the sentiments Iowa voters expressed earlier this year. Back then, Iowa Republicans viewed him unfavorably by a 63-27 margin.
The Monmouth poll also showed his favorability ratings ticking up to 52%, compared to 47% when the poll was taken last month.
Only 12% of poll respondents said their minds are made up, meaning there's still plenty of time for candidates to sway voters in the Hawkeye. Still, the strong combined support for Trump, Carson, and Fiorina (56%) demonstrates the serious desire among Iowa Republicans for a non-politician, anti-establishment candidate.