Rubio Goes After Cruz Voters in Hopes of Stopping Trump

Three of the five Iowa counties where Rubio won the most caucus votes encompass Des Moines and its suburbs.

Donald Trump is accusing Senator Ted Cruz of cheating at the Iowa caucus and wants a do-over.

The poll found the most support for Rubio in a theoretical three-man race for the nomination, with 34% picking the Florida senator compared with 33% for Trump and 25% for Cruz.

It’s true, national polls are nearly totally worthless – but that never stopped Trump from crowing about them at his rallies, and after a surprising result in Iowa they can be helpful in detecting whether there really has been a change in voter sentiment that might show up next week in New Hampshire. Rubio seemed to benefit at Trump’s expense with a stronger-than-expected showing in the Iowa caucuses, in which he almost caught up to Trump.

Marco Rubio. Despite Trump heading into the caucuses leading in the polls, Cruz earned 27.6 percent of the vote in Iowa to The Donald’s 24.3 percent. None of the remaining candidates received more than 5 percent of the vote. He based his claim of fraud largely on developments that had been known for days and had not stopped him from congratulating Cruz on his victory Monday night. The UMass Lowell/7News poll shows Trump at 36 percent to Rubio’s 15 percent and Cruz’s 14 percent.

Carson thinks this dirty political trick cost him votes.

It’s an issue voters should expect to hear Christie bring up Saturday during the Republican presidential debate at St. Anselm’s College in Manchester, the last meeting between the GOP candidates before Tuesday’s primary. The Iowa caucuses narrowed what has been an unwieldy Republican field, allowing debate host ABC News to scrap an undercard event for low-polling candidates. And we’re leaving tonight, and tomorrow afternoon, we’ll be in New Hampshire, and that’ll be something special.

There is much to be said for choosing among candidates with a track record of governing that we can judge. As other candidates drop out of the race Rubio is the most likely destination of their supporters.

Trump also tweeted that Cruz “stole” Iowa.

Cruz’s team is already tamping down expectations of a win: “I would be thrilled with second place in New Hampshire”, Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler said on PBS.

It makes sense for Rubio to go after Cruz supporters because they are near the top of the polls and have a similar profile and appeal to voters, said Neil Levesque, director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at St. Anselm College. The Cruz campaign had no immediate response. “He knows what’s going on, and I think that knowing what’s going on is actually a big help when you’re faced with crisis decisions that need to be made”, she says. But if the Hawkeye State was any indication, New Hampshire could come down to the wire.