Trump, Cruz jockey for first place in Iowa

While Trump has been leading national polls for months, he and Cruz are virtually deadlocked in Iowa, where voters will go to caucuses on February 1.

That 13-percentage-point lead is up from the five-point edge Trump had over Cruz in the same poll a month ago.

Concerns over Cruz’s Canadian birthplace are especially strong among Trump supporters, 32 percent of whom report being bothered by it. “This is primarily the Trump-Cruz battleground [in Iowa]”, says Selzer, “and the people it bothers are Trump people more than anybody else”. Cruz has said he’s eligible because his mother was an American citizen.

When he was asked specifically what he means on Fox News this week, Cruz was a little coy and said, “The rest of the country knows what NY values are”. Ted Cruz of Texas finally take off the gloves and go after each other in public, face-to-face?

Only seven candidates will be on stage while the others will be in the second-tier debate.

“The Constitution hasn’t changed – but the poll numbers have”, Cruz said.

“Because it is so close between them in Iowa, Cruz may end up being more aggressive towards Trump and throw a couple of sharp elbows”, he said. But Ertl was concerned about Trump’s claim that Democrats could challenge Cruz’s citizenship.

Minutes later, Fiorina trained her fire on GOP front-runner Donald Trump.

Republicans have one more debate scheduled before voting begins in Iowa, a January 28 event in Des Moines.

Trump doubled down on that call during on Thursday. He responded by criticizing The New York Times, who first reported the story, calling it a “hit piece” and saying that he simply made an paperwork error.

Jeb Bush at the CNN GOP in Las Vegas. While she didn’t mention Trump by name, Haley attacked “angry” candidates and extolled the virtues of immigrants, long a target of The Donald. Also on stage, besides Trump, Cruz, Rubio and Bush, will be Ohio Gov. John Kasich, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Dr. Ben Carson.

The remaining Republican candidates running for president are gathering for the first debate of 2016 on Fox Business – find out how to watch it online.

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul elected not to participate in the undercard debate.

A so-called undercard debate featured businesswoman Carly Fiorina, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and former Senator Rick Santorum, who have all performed poorly in recent polls.