Ted Cruz in IN ahead of the state’s Republican primary this Tuesday, according to a new poll from NBC/WSJ/Marist released Sunday morning.
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The poll found that alliance may be ineffective, with 58% of voters disapproving of the alliance.
Cruz was pressed during an interview with Hallie Jackson on MSNBC in Marion, Ind., about what’s in store for his campaign if he loses the Hoosier State primary on Tuesday.
The hope here is to prevent Trump’s nomination come convention-time, exploiting the fact that the delegate system is extremely complex and doesn’t even really have much of a connection to the popular vote.
The Texas Senator has openly stated his goal is to snatch the nomination on a second ballot, when most delegates become free to vote for whomever they choose – but which will only be held if Mr Trump falls short of a majority.
Cruz has no such cushion.
A victory for Trump in IN on Tuesday would be a dispiriting blow for Cruz and other forces trying to stop the front-runner, leaving them with few opportunities to block his path. Trump is the only candidate in the race who can reach the 1,237 delegates needed for the GOP nomination through regular voting, though Cruz is trying to push the race toward a contested convention. Speaking to thousands at an NAACP dinner in Detroit on Sunday, she pointed to Trump’s “insidious” role in the birther movement that questioned Obama’s citizenship and his refusal to immediately denounce white supremacist David Duke.
“I’d like to see the party pull together”, Trump said.
“I agree that IN is incredibly important.
Voters are not who they’re after; they’re after delegates”.
It also risks alienating those who have yet to vote, said veteran Indiana Republican pollster Christine Matthews.
“She’s done a lousy job in so many ways and even women don’t like her”, he said.
“Indiana voters don’t like the idea of a political pact, or being told how to vote”, Matthews said. “They don’t want to be part of that kind of a strategy”.
He says the Cruz campaign just simply out hustled the Trump campaign. “I’m proud to stand with him”. “He needs to be more concerned about them, and he’s ignoring them”.
“I trust the good people of IN to differentiate.I believe IN the American people. Rhetoric and promise on the campaign trail are not enough”, Virginia Thomas said, in an endorsement video posted on Cruz’s campaign website.
From the video, it’s hard to tell if Cruz actually saw Fiorina fall.
Trump was on heels in the final few days before Wisconsin’s primary, unable to win over the state’s influential conservative talk radio hosts and badly botching a question about abortion in a televised town hall.
Trump heads into Tuesday with all of his usual confidence.
The two continued to go back and forth as Cruz listed his problems with the media and with Trump. Ted Cruz, whom Fiorina was stumping for in Lafayette on Sunday.
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“I recognize that – that many in the media would love for me to surrender to Donald Trump”, Cruz said.
