Donald Trump branded surging 2016 Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina as "robotic" during a "Today" show appearance on Monday. He also predicted voters will turn away from her once they learn more about her "tremendous failure" as a business leader.

According to CNN, the early GOP poll leader added Fiorina's "contentious tenure" as CEO of Hewlett-Packard and as a top executive at Lucent Technologies render her "unelectable."

Many have blamed Fiorina for the faltering merger between HP and Compaq, which ultimately led to a sharp dip in the company's stock price and the layoffs of thousands of workers.

"When people see her record, I don't see how she could possibly win," Trump said on Monday's episode of the "Today."

All Trump's venom comes on the heels of a recent CNN/ORC poll finding Fiorina dramatically cut into his once commanding lead among GOP candidates. Since last week's second official debate, support for Trump has dropped from 32 to 24 percent, while Fiorina has surged to second place overall with 15 percent.

Earlier, Trump told reporters of Fiorina, "She's got a good line of pitter-patter but if you listen for five minutes you develop a tremendous headache."

Representatives for Fiorina declined to comment to CNN about Trump's assault, but during her Monday night appearance on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," the candidate herself wasn't quite so diplomatic.

"I think Donald Trump is wrong," she said of his expressed desire to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin while he is in the U.S. for the 2015 United Nations General Assembly.

"I would describe him as a formidable adversary," she added. "He can be quite funny and charming, but he's a KGB guy and we should never forget it. He's [a] very bad actor."