The contest between the two leading Republican candidates has broken out into open attacks, with Ted Cruz calling Donald Trump “rattled” and accusing him of embodying “New York values”.
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A Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register “Iowa Poll” released this morning found 56 percent of likely Iowa Caucus-goers haven’t settled on a favorite yet or could change their minds before February 1.
A Fox News poll taken January 4-7, 2016 of 1,006 registered voters gave Trump 47 percent to Clinton’s 44 percent in that potential showdown-a Trump edge that also was within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Cruz, Carson and Bush will be to Trump’s left, with Rubio, Christie and Kasich to Trump’s right.
Though the outspoken real estate tycoon has long led national polls in the United States, betting markets, considered by some a more reliable predictor this far out from voting, have consistently predicted that establishment candidates would overtake him.
On the stage for the “undercard” debate will be Carly Fiorina, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, and former Pennsylvania Sen. However, Trump leads among committed voters with 73 percent of his supporters saying they’ve locked in their choice, compared to 58 percent each for Cruz and Paul, and 57 percent for Carson.
“It is more than a little unusual to see Donald relying on as authoritative a liberal, left-wing, judicial activist Harvard law professor who is a huge Hillary supporter”, he said in New Hampshire Tuesday, apparently referencing Harvard Law professor (and Democrat) Laurence Tribe. In a likely preview of his debate tactics, Bush sharply criticized Trump on Wednesday for holding positions on taxes, guns and health care that he says are out of step with conservatives. “It starts to make you think, ‘Gosh, why are some of Hillary’s strongest supporters backing Donald Trump?”.
While questions have been raised about Cruz’s eligibility to be president because he was born outside the USA, 83 percent of Iowa Republicans said that particular issue doesn’t matter to them.
Cruz in recent days has insisted that his birthplace does not preclude him from meeting the constitutional requirement of being a “natural-born citizen” in order to be president.
But it’s not just the establishment-friendly candidates who are going after Rubio.
Mark Zaleski/AP Donald Trump remains the national front-runner for the GOP 2016 nomination, according to polls. We’re actually ahead of our pace in signing up caucus captains, people who will go to the caucus and speak on our behalf, from where we were four years ago. A month before the 2008 caucuses, which saw freshman Sen. By caucus eve, that number had risen to 60 percent.
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After a week on the receiving end of attacks by the billionaire businessman, including charges that the senator isn’t eligible to be president because he was born in Canada, Cruz launched a high-risk tactic that has befell every other Republican that tried it – attacking The Donald.
