Trump now bills himself as uniter as Cruz and others attack

“And I think they could do a lot better than Megyn Kelly”, Trump said, later criticizing Kelly as a “total lightweight”.

Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler blasted Trump’s decision as “erratic” and foolish behavior from a presidential hopeful, especially considering a large segment of voters say they have not finalized their support for a candidate. There have already been six debates, and according to all online debate polls including Drudge, Slate, Time Magazine, and many others, Mr. Trump has won all of them, in particular the last one.

“Nothing’s 100 percent, I’m not 100 percent”, Trump said.

And all the while, some high-profile conservatives are rallying behind Trump, who has thrilled many in the Republican base with aggressive plans to crack down on illegal immigration and ban Muslims from entering the country, at least temporarily, to safeguard against terrorist threats.

Trump, Cruz and the other GOP contenders face off Thursday night in Des Moines in their seventh debate.

The Fox News debate also includes: Jeb Bush, Marco Rubo, Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Rand Paul and John Kasich.

A separate CNN poll released Tuesday came up with similar results, but with Trump at 41 percent and Cruz at 19 percent.

“The Iowa Republican caucus remains too close to call”, said Peter Brown, the poll’s assistant director.

“Ted Cruz lies. He is a liar”.

“Until millions of people who are experiencing exactly what you guys are experiencing do say that we don’t make change”, Sanders responded.

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event in Muscatine, Iowa, United States, January 24, 2016. Martin O’Malley and Bernie Sanders will hold things down for the Democrats.

The Cruz campaign just put out an ad, running statewide in Iowa, that plays old clips of Trump describing himself as “pro-choice” – and once again hammers Trump for his “New York values”. “We can’t afford Trumpcare”, says one ad that features a damning clip of Trump calling for government-provided health care.

Donald Trump’s support among evangelical Christians increased, despite a recent gaffe referencing “Two Corinthians”.

Trump has been engaged in a public spat with Fox News since the network hosted the first debate and Kelly asked Trump about his treatment of woman, prompting a stream of insults from the candidate. Indeed, the poll showed no significant change in standing over the past month despite an escalating verbal battle between Trump and Cruz. Results for the full sample have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

“It’s really been a test of, who are Republicans?”

National polls show Trump is succeeding in winning over evangelicals – who are also influential in SC, another state with an early vote.