Republican Ted Cruz vaults into first place in new Iowa poll

Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who had 46 votes.

Another survey released Monday showed Cruz rising in the Hawkeye State, but not all the way to first place. A race between Clinton and Rubio is closer, with each candidate taking small victories in a few national polls. Cruz and Carson each boast a net-positive favorability rating of 67-19 percent, while Trump is viewed favorably by 54 percent of voters and unfavorably by 36 percent.

I want one GOP candidate – just one – to show realleadership by saying “I will not support Trump if he is the Republican nominee”.

The real estate mogul easily topped the other GOP presidential hopefuls, earning 32 percent of support from likely Republican primary voters.

If the caucuses were held today, Cruz would win with 24 percent support to Trump’s 19 percent backing.

“I’m a strong supporter of Ted Cruz and am honored to be a member of his Iowa Leadership team”, Heil said.

“The campaign seems to be between Trump, Cruz, and Rubio”, said Carroll University’s Lilly Goren.

Trump was a curious sideshow in June – astonishing in the things he would say but clearly not a contender (or so we all said). Cruz, in 2nd position, gained 9 points.

So is next November’s general election likely to be a contest between Hillary Clinton, who is far and away the Democratic front-runner, and Cruz?

“As Ben Carson’s stock has fallen, Cruz has been able to corral most of those voters”, said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute in New Jersey. Marco Rubio at 17%, Ben Carson at 13%, former Florida governor Jeb Bush at 6%, and Kentucky Sen. “We do not want to re-engage the “war on women” fight so isolate Trump on this issue”.

The biggest losers appear to be Carson, who has been in a political free fall for the past month amid questions about the veracity of his life story and his understanding of foreign policy, and Sen. John McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

“I recognize that a great many folks in the media would prefer that anyone running for president engage as an ongoing theater critic, criticizing the proposals of others”, Cruz said. Ryan added “more importantly, this is now what the country stands for”. She also holds a better than 3-to-1 lead as the candidate who would best handle ISIS. I believe that it’s murder and I don’t think that’s hateful speech. “Among voters who were not regular GOP primary voters, however, the poll found Trump ahead, similar to the CNN/ORC poll’s finding”. CNN, by contrast, compiled its sample of “likely” caucus goers by asking Iowa adults about their intention to participate in the caucuses, their interest in the news about the caucuses and past participation.