Trump at center stage, but Cruz in spotlight at GOP debate

Last week, a Monmouth University poll put Cruz in the top spot for the first time – at 24 percent to Trump’s 19 percent among likely caucus-goers.

A poll released last week by The Des Moines Register and Bloomberg News showed Texas Sen.

The once-friendly rivalry between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump is getting edgy as the Texas senator cuts into the business mogul’s lead, setting up a potential showdown in the GOP presidential primary debate Tuesday. Cruz surge has meant bad news for retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who has mustered up the support of 13 percent of likely voters, down from almost 30 percent just a few weeks back.

Trump called Cruz a “maniac” on Sunday, an indication that he is prepared to take aim at Cruz as he has successfully done against rivals Ben Carson, Jeb Bush, Rand Paul and John Kasich.

Cruz is also behind Clinton in a general election match-up – albeit by a slimmer margin – as Cruz falling 3 points short of Clinton’s 48% support in the poll.

While Rubio, Cruz and Trump are in a dead heat in the Political Prediction Market, Trump maintains a national lead in the polls.

Trump is now aiming his fire at Cruz, calling him “a bit of a maniac” in a TV interview over the weekend. And Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) was at 10%. “But then I’ve also seen polls that show that Trump is going after and winning more moderate Republican voters and even some conservative Democrats”. In that poll, Trump led the field with 28% support, followed by Carson at 18% and Cruz at 10%.

“We need more female voters, more Hispanics…And instead of learning those lessons, you have candidates like Cruz and Trump who are doing the exact opposite”, said GOP strategist Brian Walsh.

“The problem for Trump is that the Iowa caucuses are very hard to organize”, said Mackowiak. “And instead of learning those lessons, you have candidates like Cruz and Trump who are doing the exact opposite”.

In a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, Cruz climbed 12 points. “Trump gets away with his mistakes, such is the bond of loyalty his support base has for him that he gets away with them and I don’t think he’s made that many, don’t misunderstand”, Rush said (bolding is mine).