The poll found that support for Mr Trump dropped to 28 per cent among likely Republican voters in SC, down 8 points from January, while support for Mr Cruz rose slightly to 23 per cent. What had been a 16-point lead for Mr Trump is now 5 points.
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Trump tried to defend his position telling CNN’s Anderson Cooper that he “wasn’t a politician” at the time of the interview.
His tiff with Pope Francis had dominated media coverage of the SC campaign 48 hours before voters go to the polls.
Before the rally started, Heather Briggs, 41, an undecided voter who used to back Donald Trump, said that her ideal candidate would be “somebody that speaks his mind, somebody that’s strong and shows some force”.
It’s a huge part of why Trump appeals to many so many Republicans and infuriates so many more: He doesn’t hesitate for a moment to turn party orthodoxy on its head.
When Trump was asked about this during the town hall, he said he did not think it was a good thing that the Pope said what he said.
Yet their day on the trail was overshadowed by Pope Francis’ extraordinary reply to a question about Trump and his focus on building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border to stem illegal immigration. And he stomped on any news that Rubio, Cruz or Bush might make in the closing days.
My initial reaction was to ask a question that’s been repeatedly raised since Trump got into the race.
On Wednesday morning, a long line of volunteers spilled out the door of Cruz’s Greenville campaign headquarters.
The billionaire added:”If and when the Vatican is attacked by ISIS, which as everyone knows is ISIS’s ultimate trophy, I can promise you that the Pope would have only wished and prayed that Donald Trump would have been president”.
“I think I probably will” vote for him, she said, “I’m just not 100 percent sure”, she said.
Kasich also told the audience that he called former House Speaker John Boehner and Sen.
Still, Cruz’s campaign believes it can replicate its data-focused, volunteer-heavy strategy in SC, as well as the flurry of other Southern states that vote in the coming weeks.
Donald Trump is in a unique situation since he’s funding his presidential run himself.
“I’m not that great a guy, OK?” he said.
Republican National Committee member Henry Barbour, who helped author the RNC’s post-2012 study, praised the minority outreach efforts of candidates like Rubio and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. “He holds up the Bible and lies”, Trump said.
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But even if he places low in Saturday’s primary election, Bush said that he intends to move forward, although for now he’s focused on the weekend, not what happens on Sunday or Monday.
