Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and real estate tycoon Donald Trump remain the two front-runners for the Republican Party's 2016 presidential nomination and continue to lead "establishment candidates" like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a new national poll revealed.

When asked for their first choice among the crowded GOP field, 24 percent opted for Trump, while 20 percent backed Carson in the Bloomberg Politics survey, which was conducted between Nov. 15 and Nov. 17, among 379 registered Republicans and those who lean toward that party.

Rubio came in third in the poll, scoring 12 percent. The Florida senator was trailed by his Texas colleague Cruz at 9 percent and his onetime mentor Bush at 6 percent, the business publication detailed.

Pollsters, who revealed that their survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 5-percentage points, also dove into some of the candidates' personality traits and policy positions to gain a better understanding of Republicans' preferences, Bloomberg noted.

GOP backers overwhelmingly picked Carson over Trump for a presidential temperament, but they preferred Trump when it came to tackling key issues, such as terrorism, immigration, and the United States' complex relationship with Russia and its president Vladimir Putin.

"Carson's greatest strength has always been who people think he is as a person," said J. Ann Selzer, whose Iowa-based Selzer & Co. conducted the survey, according to CBS News. "Trump's greatest strength has always been what people think he can do."

Meanwhile, an overall majority of the some 1,000 adults supporting both parties who were part of the poll said it would be wrong to deport the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States, a key proposal of Trump's immigration plan, Politico noted.

Sixty-three percent of those surveyed, meanwhile, said they backed President Barack Obama's policy of allowing undocumented immigrants, who came into the country as children, to stay and acquire temporary work permits, the Washington publication added.