Campaigning for the Republican nomination at November’s USA presidential election took a nasty turn on Wednesday with billionaire businessman Donald Trump accusing rival Ted Cruz of fraud as the field of candidates narrowed ahead of next week’s New Hampshire primary. According to Trump, his opponent got more votes than expected because “Ted Cruz didn’t win Iowa, he stole it”.
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He criticized Cruz for putting out a statement saying that a fellow candidate, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, was quitting the race, and accused Cruz of lying to thousands of voters about Trump’s policies.
This poll, coming in the aftermath of Cruz’ upset win in the Iowa caucus, suggests that the race for second place has begun to correspond to the contest, evident in most nationwide polling, between Rubio and Cruz.
The inflammatory accusation marked a reversal for Trump, who on Monday night delivered a concession speech thanking Iowans for his second-place finish and congratulating Cruz.
The results of the New Hampshire primary are important, but are not always reliable in predicting who will win the party nominations.
On caucus night, Cruz’s campaign volunteers told voters that Carson was getting out of the race, using a report that he was going to Florida after the caucuses to make the claim, and they encouraged caucus-goers to vote for Cruz instead.
Polls after the Iowa caucuses are showing that Florida Sen. “They do not want to run against me…They know that if I’m our nominee, they lose”, reports NPR. “I call on Senator Cruz to take decisive action at a senior level within his campaign or I fear this culture of destructive behavior will only continue”.
“It may be that some of the surrogates or some of our caucus precinct captains… went too far”, Tyler told CNN.
“We have a president who can’t get anybody to do anything”, Trump said during a rally at Great Bay Community College in Portsmouth, N.H., according to The Hill. Donald Trump guaranteed a victory in Iowa and then he lost.
Cruz was enjoying a big fundraising advantage over his Republican rivals even before the new numbers were released. “Bad!” Trump said in a Twitter post Wednesday morning. “He said that Ben Carson, who’s a fantastic guy, had dropped out”.
And in a conference call with reporters Tuesday, Kasich campaign aide John Weaver sought to contrast his candidate’s executive experience with Rubio’s senate record, unfavorably comparing the freshman to Obama.
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He apologized to Carson earlier this week, telling Fox News, “They should have forwarded that subsequent story”. After all, Trump is a political unknown who has outraged sections of the electorate with controversial proposals on border security, including a temporary suspension of the entry of all Muslims to the US.
