Among Iowa polls, Cruz’s 21-percentage-point spike since October is the largest surge over that past five presidential campaigns.
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In a new Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics Iowa GOP Poll released on Saturday, Ted Cruz leads the field of Republican candidates.
The poll showed a major collapse since October in support for Carson, who had reached 28%.
The most recent poll shows Cruz making a rapid leap that “smashes records for upsurges in recent Iowa caucuses history”, the Register reported.
Trump has already tweeted telling his followers “don’t trust the Des Moines Register poll” because it’s “biased toward Trump!”
And there are signs Cruz may not have peaked in Iowa yet. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson was a distant third at 13 percent.
With Sen. Marco Rubio in fourth place at 10 percent, and the poll has Jeb Bush found himself up slightly since October – 6 percent from 5 percent – leaving him in fifth place.
Pollster Frank Luntz told the Register that it’s possible that Cruz “could win Iowa big – very big”. In October, that reading sat at 43 percent for Bush. The outcomes are probably the most tangible sign still in that Cruz’s strategy in Iowa – heavily depending on profitable over pastors & their evangelical congregations – is succeeding.
Three Republicans are tied at 3%: Paul, a watchdog for government overreach; former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a torchbearer for Christian conservative morals; and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a self-proclaimed messenger of hard truths. The rest of the field, including Carly Fiorina and John Kasich, is at 2% or less.
Trump, after first offering praise for Cruz, fired back on Friday night – although in a gentler manner than his past attacks on other GOP rivals. “The Des Moines Register is the worst”, Trump said, to applause. For months, Cruz labored behind the scenes, courting and organizing influential faith leaders as he slowly worked to peel off the born-again believers of candidates like Ben Carson.
Much of the money behind Cruz’s well-funded super PACs does, indeed, come from oil wealth.
In the 2012 race, Mitt Romney, the GOP’s eventual nominee, jumped eight points from 16% to 24% in the final poll before the vote.
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The poll, conducted December 7-10, surveyed 400 likely Republican caucus-goers.
