Another poll, another GOP panic over Donald Trump

Remember how last summer Donald Trump was a distraction? A flash in the pan? Sure to implode? That distraction just topped another poll. And by "topped" I mean obliterated all the others:

Donald Trump is once again alone at the top of the Republican field, according to the latest CNN/ORC Poll, with 36% of registered Republicans and Republican-leaning independents behind him, while his nearest competitor trails by 20 points.

Three candidates cluster behind Trump in the mid-teens, including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz at 16%, former neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 14% and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio at 12%. All other candidates have the support of less than 5% of GOP voters in the race for the Republican Party's nomination for president.

Carson (down 8 points since October), former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (down 5 points to 3%) and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (down 4 points to 1%) have lost the most ground since the last CNN/ORC poll, conducted in mid-October.

Trump is up nine points since that mid-October poll, likely picking up all of Carson's lost voters and then some. And it’s part of a much broader trend that has seen Trump’s overall lead in Huffington Post’s national polling average jump a full 7 points in just the last month alone.

And it’s not just the horserace where Trump’s soaring. According to CNN, Trump is most trusted to manage the economy with a whopping 60 percent giving him the nod. On immigration, it’s 55 percent; foreign policy, 32 percent; on terrorism, 49 percent. Add it all up and 42 percent of Republicans say that Trump is the man to solve the country's problems.

And that right there is a bigger problem for the GOP than it seems to be grasping. Maybe Republicans should be spending a little less time freaking out about Trump and instead panic about the voter base they've created.