White House hopefuls move on to New Hampshire

Meanwhile, Mr Trump has predicted he will win over voters next week in New Hampshire, where he has a substantial lead in polls.

In the first New Hampshire poll conducted after the Iowa caucuses, a UMass Lowell poll released this morning found Trump leading the GOP primary with 38% support, followed by Cruz’s 14%.

Mr Cruz bested Mr Trump with 28 per cent of caucusgoers’ pledges on Monday compared with the latter’s 24 per cent. Florida Senator Marco Rubio came in a close third with 23 per cent. He criticised the media for focusing more on Mr Rubio’s third-place showing than his second, calling journalists “miserable people” and encouraging the crowd to boo them.

The months-long presidential contest kicked into high gear Wednesday, with Democratic and Republican debates this week building up to next week’s primary in New Hampshire.

Next Tuesday’s results determine how the state’s delegates will be allocated, which ultimately determines who will become their party’s nominee.

And the optics of his Tuesday night rally in New Hampshire aimed to re-polish any dents that image may have suffered as a result of his Iowa loss. “So we have 5 thousand people”.

To what extent Trump is willing to go to prove his point is unclear but he remained adamant on Wednesday that Cruz stole the caucus from him.

The Texas senator said that his aides did not circulate a follow-up report clarifying that Carson was simply returning home to Florida for a brief break from the campaign trail but was in fact continuing on with his presidential campaign. Rand Paul (Fla.), also on Wednesday sought to attract supporters of Sen.

Clinton, who spoke in Iowa on Monday, said she is a “progressive who get things done”.

The question remains whether the dispute will hurt Cruz, a favorite of conservative evangelicals looking to win over Carson supporters should Carson drop out.

Cruz beat Trump by several percentage points after most polls put Trump slightly ahead. Ted Cruz, who was nipping at Mr. Trump’s heels along with Sen.

The Iowa secretary of state condemned the flyers – which contained the words “voting violation” emblazoned across the top – but did not take any further action.