A new Iowa poll by Monmouth University shows Cruz with 24 percent of GOP support, while Trump is at 19 percent. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson previously led the GOP field in support among this coveted demographic, but now earns just 15 percent support among evangelicals, putting him behind Cruz, Trump, and Sen.
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Donald Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric has invited the scorn of almost every Republican presidential candidate with one notable exception: Ted Cruz. The race is most tightly contended within the top four circle among voters who hold college degrees, with Cruz leading slightly at 22 percent.
With this latest poll, Christie was averaging 7 percent in New Hampshire, according to a Real Clear Politics average that also includes some surveys that CNN will not take into account because they do not follow generally accepted polling practices such as having live interviewers making random telephone calls.
The Monmouth poll was done by telephone Thursday through Sunday with 425 Iowa Republicans considered likely to participate in the February 1 caucuses. Rand Paul, R-Ky., at 4 percent.
Monday, Donald Trump, who is still the GOP frontrunner nationally, tweeted out his thanks to Evangelical supporters, saying, “I am especially grateful for the tremendous support I have received from the Evangelicals in the just out Iowa CNN poll”. Clinton could face Cruz, or Rubio, or Trump.
The survey findings come less than two months before the Iowa caucuses on February 1 start a cascade of contests created to choose the parties’ nominees.
Trump was named by 42 percent as the candidate best able to manage government spending, with Bush second at 10 percent and Kasich third at 8 percent. The margin of error for Republican voters was 5.2 percentage points. Marco Rubio looks to have numerous characteristics of a strong nominee, but he’s young, and some insiders are still clearly uncomfortable with him.
In a question about what Dole makes of Trump, the former Senate leader quickly turned matters to Cruz.
Even though the winter holidays are getting closer, Republican candidates don’t have time to think at this, since the last GOP debate of the year is less than one week away. My corporate cousins (their publication is owned by Mort Zuckerman, who also owns my publication) at the New York Daily News editorial page put it perfectly: Trump’s craven stand against the First Amendment “was a searing humiliation for a country uniquely founded on the highest principles of fairness, human dignity and the free exercise of religion” and he is the “shame of a nation”. “They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists, and some, I assume, are good people”, Trump said.
But Cruz’s campaign has wagered that attacking Trump – who has shown tremendous political durability through all of his controversies – is a fool’s errand, more likely to sink Cruz’s numbers than Trump’s. Only 18 percent said they would reconsider their support. In a pair of new polls released Monday, Cruz and Trump alternated in the top position. Nineteen percent of Iowa Republicans say King’s backing makes it more likely they will support Cruz.
The survey of 425 likely Republican caucusgoers and 406 likely Democratic caucusgoers was conducted December 3rd through 6th.
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Christie was at 9 percent in the CNN/WMUR poll in the state considered crucial to his presidential chances.
