However, Republican voters other than Trump or Cruz supporters felt the front-runner doesn’t have the right temperament to be president, according to the poll.
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Among all other Republican voters, however, just 40% feel the same while most say they would be either dissatisfied (24%) or upset (29%) if Trump was the GOP nominee.
The possibility of an escalation of the Trump-Cruz feud will be on tap for Tuesday’s debate though Republican strategists are warning those who want to attack Trump to be careful.
“I saw Netanyahu put out a statement distancing himself from you”, Tapper said, to which Trump responded, “They’re not distancing themselves”. But if your support his idea about Muslims, you should.
At his most combative, the property mogul accused Clinton, who served as Barrack Obama’s Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013, of killing hundreds of thousands as a result of her handling of foreign policy. Trump’s 41 percent is 27 points higher than Cruz, who is in second with 14 percent. Dr. Ben Carson is at 10 percent. Aside from Trump’s own supporters, more than 60 percent of Cruz’ supporters said they would be OK with a Trump nomination. And he may or may not lead in Iowa, with an average of 25 percent.
Donald Trump is expanding his criticism of Ted Cruz, once his closest ally in the Republican race for the White House.
Nine Republicans qualified for the CNN-sponsored debate Tuesday including Trump, Cruz, Carson, Rubio, Bush, Christie, Kasich, former business executive Carly Fiorina and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. Trump, by contrast, received 26 percent of the vote.
Trump touted his ability to get along with liberals and conservatives and said that was the hallmark of the “world-class businessman” he is.
Asked whether they agreed that Trump had the proper temperament to be commander-in-chief, 65 percent agreed to some degree, while 33 percent disagreed to some measure.
Cruz, meanwhile, has taken a quieter approach to winning over voters. Only 9 percent of voters think Rubio would be the best at handling terrorism.
Appearing on NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers on Thursday, Clinton said, “You know, I have to say, Seth, I no longer think he’s amusing”, The Daily Beast reported. In order to take Cruz down, Trump will have to persuade voters that they have made a mistake about someone they really, really like.
Cruz had a lighthearted response to the “maniac” label on Twitter later on Sunday, posting a link to a video clip from the 1983 film “Flashdance” showing star Jennifer Beals dancing energetically as the hit song “Maniac” plays on the soundtrack.
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The Monmouth poll was conducted December 10-13, surveying 385 registered voters nationwide who identified as Republicans or independents who indicated that they leaned toward the Republican Party. If I had done that in 2008, I would have known that polls even at this stage in a primary campaign – a couple of months before the voting starts – still have a wide predictive margin of error compared with the final national outcome.
