Likely just statistical noise.
The problem is for his opponent is that world events are moving in Trumps direction, as scary as those events are, they bolster his positions. And all of Trump’s opponents have no traction, with Carson still the number 2....which just defies all logic.
Thirdly, he still controls the media cycle/attention.
I’m certainly a lot closer to your view on this than that poll.
I was rather surprised to see him rise to 42.9%. I didn’t see a cause for it. Now this.
Could be statistical noise or simply gaming the situation.
Did they run it up to 42.9% so it would look worse when they ran it down the next week?
Something stinks like rotting fish with this one.