Donald Trump Gets Prickly Over Ben Carson, Iowa Poll Numbers

ATKINSON, N.H. -- Donald Trump may be feeling the heat over new polling in Iowa showing his trailing Ben Carson.

Walking into a rally in Atkinson, New Hampshire, today, Trump dismissed a recent surge by the retired Maryland neurosurgeon, saying, “He’s had one better poll in Iowa. I don’t believe those polls, actually, because I’ve seen the response from the people in Iowa.”

It’s more than one poll, though. Just a day after Quinnipiac found that Trump is trailing in the Hawkeye State, Bloomberg News pegged Carson’s lead in Iowa at 9 points.

Pressed on the matter, Trump frowned. “He is certainly not doing well in New Hampshire; I can tell you that,” he said.

Recent polls place Trump in the lead in New Hampshire, with Carson second, trailed by a pack including Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and Carly Fiorina.

A few minutes later, Trump greeted a standing-room only crowd at Atkinson Country Club audience, complaining that the media was trying to strip his front-runner status.

“They keep hitting me with one poll,” he said. “You’re going to find out about the media someday, folks. They are the worst.”

Even though he’s a self-described “counter-puncher,” Trump, 69, continued going after Carson.

“By the way, Carson is lower energy than Bush,” he said. “I don’t get it.”

Trump didn’t have far to travel for his next event; a town hall hosted by NBC, right downstairs.

In front of 125 registered New Hampshire voters, the billionaire told host Matt Lauer that “it’s not been easy” for him, but also mentioned he had received a $1 million loan from his father to start his business career.

“One million dollars isn’t very much compared to what I built,” he explained. “I've built one of the great companies, but it's always been, ‘You can't do this, you can't do that.’”

He also brought up a decision by Ford to build a car manufacturing plant in Ohio, instead of expanding its program in Mexico.

“I get credit for that. I should get credit for that,” he said, citing his tough talk on outsourcing as the catalyst for the decision.

Ohio Governor John Kasich, though, has said he was part of the negotiations four years ago.

Asked by ABC News who was right, Trump demurred, saying simply, “He’s a nice man, John Kasich. I like him.”

But if Trump’s words toward Carson are any indication, Kasich might not receive such kind treatment if he somehow takes the lead.