Trump, Clinton extend leads in US 2016 race

And Trump’s comments on Israel – particularly the billionaire businessman’s repeated questioning of its commitment to making a peace deal with the Palestinians – sparked an aggressive backlash from his Republican rivals.

“By the way, Israel has given a lot…” he said, “but hasn’t been given a lot of credit for what they’ve given”.

Cruz (up 12 points) and Trump (up 9 points) are the greatest beneficiaries of those declines.

Of course, 35 years ago, many Democrats relished the prospect of then-President Jimmy Carter going up against former Hollywood actor (and ex-governor) Ronald Reagan, a contest that didn’t end well for Carter’s party. The NRSC further told the newspaper that it has similar memos about the other potential Republican presidential nominees. Ted Cruz and Sen. With the Iowa caucuses just around the corner, Republican Party is growing deeply concerned that Trump or Cruz could rise to be the nominee and seriously endanger the party’s chances of defeating Hillary Clinton.

“I’m not completely sold on him as somebody who can unify this country”, said Ron Mann, a 65-year-old Republican from Bettendorf who attended a jam-packed town hall with Cruz Monday evening.

Adding to the political pressure in a presidential election year, when Democrats generally are more successful at getting their votes to show up at polling places: The Cook Political Report, which provides non-partisan handicapping of political races, rates four Senate seats now held by Republicans-Florida, Illinois, New Hampshire and Wisconsin-as “toss-ups”, compared to just one for Democrats in Nevada.

In November, when he appeared on ABC’s “This Week”, Trump was asked about the guerilla effort undertaken by operatives within the Republican party to derail Trump’s candidacy.

“I said you have to have the commitment to make it. I don’t know that Israel has the commitment to make it, and I don’t know that the other side has the commitment to make it….”

Trump called Ohio Gov. John Kasich “the worst debater I’ve ever seen”.

Donald Trump gets 27 percent of Republican voters today, with 17 percent for Sen. If I’m treated fairly, I’m fine.

The two-state solution envisions an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, with the boundaries negotiated in talks between the parties.

Even as Trump avoided spelling out specific conditions for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, he said he understood the seriousness of the matter. “I will be leading in every poll, and leading by actually very wide margins”.

All the GOP candidates are speaking at the forum on Thursday. The group and its biggest benefactor – casino magnate Sheldon Adelson – have little tolerance for anything that might be perceived as a criticism of the Jewish state. Among immigration voters, 55% trust Trump on the issue.

“That sound familiar to you?” he said to the crowd at the Republican Jewish Coalition event. Its end has brought the issue to the forefront of the 2016 presidential campaign.