Bernie Sanders, getting 60 percent support to his 30 percent.
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In a seven-page memo obtained by the Washington Post, Ward Baker, head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, says the party “should prepare for 2016, by understanding the environment and recognizing the Trump phenomenon”. Ted Cruz (Tex.), each taking 16 percent support. No other candidate tops 3 percent, with 8 percent undecided.
As he defended conservatives’ views on contraception, Cruz blamed Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton for falsely identifying the GOP as the “condom police” as a way to scare voters and distract them from other important issues. This means he’s tied with Cruz and virtually tied with Rubio.
Carson’s drop comes amid concern over his foreign policy experience in the wake of terrorist attacks in Paris. As Rubio and Cruz built steam, though, Carson seems to be fading again.
While Tim Malloy said that the Republican Party establishment is anxious that Trump “could be the guy”, he goes on to say that both Clinton and Sanders are hoping that Trump, is “the guy”. Cruz now is just behind Donald Trump in polls of likely Iowa caucus-goers.
Calling Trump a “misguided missile”, Baker in the memo urges 2016 GOP senate candidates to “run your own race” and not “get drawn into every Trump statement and every Trump dust-up”. Fifty-nine percent of voters find Sanders “honest and trustworthy” while only 36 percent believe the same of Clinton.
“Houston, we have a problem: Donald Trump has said some wacky things about women”, the memo reads. Respondents favored her over Trump 47 percent to 41 percent, compared with 46-42 in the last poll.
Still, the Q poll is the latest sign that Rubio looks like the real deal in a crowded, cacophonous Republican field. We are potentially seeing what could be our final three GOP candidates: “Trump, Rubio and Cruz”. Trend lines matter more than anything else in national primary polling, and no one this side of Rubio has a better trend line than Cruz. That’s not significantly better than Bush’s four percent support in November, and it’s far from Bush’s peak in the Quinnipiac poll at 16 percent, way back in March. Last month, Trump was at 24 percent, followed closely by Carson at 23 percent.
One candidate who won’t be on the ballot is Gov. Bobby Jindal, who ended his bid for the Republican presidential nomination two weeks ago. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), a presidential rival who has repeatedly tangled with Trump, told The Times.
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But the memo also says that Trump’s rise in the polls “exists because Washington politicians promise change, but don’t deliver”. That figure is 71 percent for those who say they support Carson, 65 percent for those who say they support Cruz, and 75 percent for those who say they support Rubio. Regardless, though, the Democrats are in good shape.
