Trump Opens Up Huge National Lead

Cruz and Trump will meet face-to-face at the next Republican presidential debate sponsored by CNN in Las Vegas.

Trump, whose comments on Muslims have drawn widespread criticism but may not dent his lead in several national opinion polls, made a sarcastic reference to Cruz’s respectful treatment of him. “Somebody taped that conversation”, Trump said about Cruz on “Fox News Sunday”. Expect Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the U.S.to take center stage with him. In a CBS News/New York Times poll released last week, Trump received 35 percent, also is highest percentage in any of those surveys. Two of the three show Trump’s support going up, and the other is the first of the year, so there is no trendline. Ben Carson’s support meanwhile has plummeted to 11% from 29%. Then came the Islamic State attacks in Paris, and Carson began fading as voters’ concerns shifted to terrorism.

Cruz favors shutting down the Internal Revenue Service.

Mark Levin sounded pretty angry with Donald Trump tonight for some “stupid” blunders, including his trashing of Ted Cruz as a “maniac”.

Almost half of all evangelical Christians and about 39 percent of Tea Party conservatives named Cruz their pick when polled, perhaps spurred on by crucial endorsements by the likes of Bob Vander Plaats.

The poll found several other candidates’ support growing since October, but they were still far behind Trump. Sen.

When the reports surfaced last week of Cruz at NY fundraisers questioning Trump’s judgement, Cruz promptly tweeted: “The Establishment’s only hope: Trump & me in a cage match”.

The one rival Cruz has been willing to go after is Sen.

With just about eight weeks to go, it will be interesting to see how things turn out, as Trump promises to come back to Iowa in the lead up to the Feb 1 caucus.

Among Republicans, Rubio is on the rise.

The early front-runner, Bush is mired in single digits nationally and in Iowa, and no longer can be considered a top-tier candidate. That is a 10 point lead over national GOP front-runner Trump, who claimed 21 percent of support, according to CNN.

There’s no sign of a recovery. Trump is also enjoying his peak favorability among these voters: 61 percent have a favorable impression of him, 29 percent are unfavorable, and just 10 have no opinion. With some Republicans looking for an “anti-Trump” candidate, watch for Rubio to focus fire more on Cruz than on Trump, as he tries to distinguish himself once again as the clear viable alternative to Trump in the GOP field.

One tier below Carson is a pack that includes Christie (2 percent). New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was able to qualify for the main debate Tuesday as he continues to enjoy a mini-surge in the polls in New Hampshire, site of the first presidential primary election on February 9.

The poll tallies support among registered voters who describe themselves as Republicans or Republican-leaning independents with no screening for whether or not they are likely to actually vote in their state’s primary or caucus.