However, Cruz’s 2-point edge is within the poll’s margin of error, and it’s not clear if the survey captures real movement in the race, CNN reported.
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If the race were narrowed to a two-candidate field, the poll shows, Cruz leads Trump by 56 percent to 40 percent, while Rubio leads by 57 percent to 41 percent.
The poll was conducted after the New Hampshire primary on February 9 and the Republican presidential debate Saturday – a contentious affair during which Trump was attacked from all sides and came off as angry and unsteady at times. Ted Cruz are sparring over an abortion ad. Trump says the ad, which shows an interview from 1999, is filled with lies and he’s threatened to sue Cruz.
Trump has led in most national polls for many weeks, and Republican pollster Bill McInturff, who conducted the latest survey with Democratic pollster Peter Hart, told NBC, “When you see a number this different, it means you might be right on top of a shift in the campaign”.
“Trump blames me for WSJ poll, fights Fox News”.
Since he announced his candidacy last summer, Trump has leveraged his celebrity and deep pockets to wage an unfiltered campaign that has upended the Republican primary.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll also showed that either Clinton or Sanders would win a hypothetical general election contest with Trump.
Ted Cruz has many enemies in the United States Senate, and only one pretty good friend: Republican Sen.
So, endorsements matter to at least some voters and may help some candidates to compete with Donald Trump and his double digit lead in the polls.
“I think we’re either going to have a figure a way forward by working with Silicon Valley and the tech industry on this”, Rubio said.
The poll found Trump dominating the field across virtually all demographic groups, and doing even better than Cruz among those who say they are either very conservative or evangelical Christian. 56% of GOP voters expect he will win in SC, 54% think he will win Nevada, and 53% expect him to win the nomination.
The poll comes the same day as a Quinnipiac University national poll, where Trump leads with more than 20 percentage points.
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The truly interesting question from this poll is that respondents were asked who they would support in a one-on-one matchup. Carson has dipped two and Bush has held steady.
