As Cruz rises in US presidential polls, Trump calls him maniac

After all, as Trump reminded crowds two weeks prior: “There’s only one way to get to the top and it’s all through Trump, let’s face it”.

But Cruz has also shown himself to be more even-tempered and consistent than Trump.

Mr Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, dropped to fourth place with 11% (down from 29%) behind Senator Mario Rubio, of Florida (15%).

The front-runner, whose comments on Muslims drew widespread criticism but may not dent his lead in several national public opinion polls, made a sarcastic reference to Cruz’s respectful treatment of him.

Cruz’s 21-percentage-point jump since October is the largest surge between Iowa Polls recorded in at least the last five presidential caucus campaigns.

Despite Trump remaining at the top of the heap in Iowa, 30 percent of those polled by Fox News said they would never support Trump for president.

He spoke as Mr Cruz leap-frogged him to lead in Iowa with 31% support, leaving Mr Trump trailing on 21% in the Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics poll. “And I think that is a question that is a challenging question for voters”.

He’ll never get anything done and that’s the problem with Ted.

It is understandable of the attention for tomorrow night’s GOP presidential debate is going to be the interaction between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump.

“When you look at the way he’s dealt with the Senate, where he goes in there like a, you know, frankly like a little bit of a maniac. Will be easy!” An attempt by Cruz to salvage the relationship by calling Trump “terrific” appears to have fallen on deaf ears.

Sparring began with Trump’s “Fox News Sunday” appearance, when he referred to Cruz as “a little bit of a maniac”.

At an Iowa campaign event the day before the poll was released, Trump bashed the register, anticipating numbers that weren’t in his favor.

“One of the things I have is really good judgment, and I think I have really great temperament”, he said.

The billionaire businessman and reality TV star led nationally with 27 percent, followed by Mr. Cruz at 22 percent, according to a NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Sunday.

As recently as October, Cruz, 44, had just 10 percent support in a Monmouth poll.

Some of the ground Cruz has gained in the polls is due to the dropping popularity of Ben Carson. “So, he gets a lot of money from the oil companies, and he’s against ethanol”, Trump told an ethanol-friendly crowd in Iowa last week.