Cruz, Christie Gain Popularity as Trump’s Favorability Stumbles

Trump also polled higher than any other candidate on the two issues Iowa Republicans say are most important to them, the economy and terrorism.

Peter Brown is assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.

Trump on Monday suggested Cruz’s nomination could be held up for months in court and cited comments from Harvard Law School’s Laurence Tribe that his citizenship is far from a settled legal matter.

The Des Moines register reports the Donald Trump has attracted big crowds of voters who have never attended caucuses before, and his campaign workers are focusing on making sure they know all about the caucus process.

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event at the Veterans Memorial Building in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, December 19, 2015. Cruz has had little help on the issue from Establishment figures.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, left, and Donald Trump.

Cruz’s recent polling surge has thrust him into a two-man race with Trump in Iowa while he closes the gap with the GOP front-runner nationally – and as the race has tightened, the rhetoric has escalated.

On Wednesday, the day after the interview, Trump continued to knock Cruz over his qualifications, tweeting, “Sadly, there is no way that @TedCruz can continue running in the Republican primary unless he can erase doubt on eligibility”. The group has placed about 200,000 “robocalls” in Iowa and may also target New Hampshire, organizers said.

“Everyone’s going to pile on Rubio, I think”, Costa said. She was an American citizen by birth.

“I urge you to vote for Donald Trump because he is the one candidate who points out that we should accept immigrants who are good for America”, Jared Taylor, the founder of white supremacist publication “American Renaissance”, is heard saying on the call. “You had me in ninth place”, Christie said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program. Fox News and NBC News/Wall Street Journal polls released in the last four days also reported an increase in Trump support from their earlier surveys. As it stands, when the race is narrowed to a three-way clash between Trump, Cruz, and Rubio, both Cruz and Trump gain roughly the same number of voters as Rubio: Trump rises to 45%, Cruz to 30% and Rubio to 21% – increases of 9, 10 and 10 points respectively.

“Not many evangelicals come out of Cuba”, Trump recently quipped.

Still, the gloves have not completely come off: While Trump has criticized Cruz’s policy positions on ethanol mandates and portrayed himself as the true leader on border security, Cruz has yet to directly attack the New Yorker’s bona fides on those issues.