A new Bloomberg poll of SC, which is holding its primary next week, had Trump with more than double the support of Cruz, 36 to 17 percent, in the state.
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Rubio hit Cruz for shady tactics on a number of fronts, including bringing up that the Texas senator’s campaign told precinct captains in Iowa to tell caucusgoers that Ben Carson was suspending campaigning, as well as hitting him for robo calls unfavorable to Rubio and Trump.
Only 8 percent of likely Democratic voters and 6 percent of likely Republican voters say they are undecided, giving the trailing candidates little time to catch up before Super Tuesday.
The ad, called “Supreme Trust”, about trusting the choice for a Supreme Court vacancy, uses clips from a 1999 interview Trump did with the late Tim Russert in which the developer, then considering a White House run, declared himself to be “pro-choice”.
Trump insists he’s changed his position and the ad is an attempt to smear him.
Just days ahead of the SC primary, Republican presidential candidates were preparing for a town hall meeting in the Palmetto State.
Haley; “If we elect Marco Rubio, every day will be a great day in America!”
The candidate most hurt by the pick is former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who held out hope that Haley might throw support his way to boost the so-called “establishment” candidate falling out of favor with a majority of state Republicans.
The Texas senator has been fighting back against the claims from Trump and Rubio all week, but the press conference marked his most forceful and focused defense as Saturday’s SC primary neared.
“It sends a signal that I got to work harder”, responded Bush.
“File a lawsuit”, Cruz said in a challenge to the frontrunner. “Now it just means that, like, you’ve have been around for 15 minutes.” he said with a rueful laugh.
With both men hammering one another for advantage behind front-runner Donald Trump, Rubio pushed back on Cruz’s earlier comments and TV ad that criticized his record on illegal immigration. Bush has deep family ties to SC – his father and brother each won two Republican primaries here – and a poor showing Saturday could leave him without a compelling rationale to keep his campaign going.
Mr Rubio said that Mrs Haley, who has an 81 per cent approval rating among South Carolina Republicans, “embodies and exemplifies what I want the Republican party to be known as in the 21st century”.
“She embodies everything I want the Republican Party to be about”, Rubio said. I would agree if they were referring to a revolt against Trump who received 35 percent of the vote in New Hampshire and only 24 percent of the vote in Iowa.
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Trump captured 26% in the poll. Shortly after Cruz’s direct-to-camera video was released, Trump emailed his supporters reiterating that he had merely “evolved” on the social issue that is perhaps most important to evangelical voters.
