Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has been on the road campaigning from Iowa to Georgia and it seems to be paying off as he gained some ground frontrunner Donald Trump. A Quinnipiac University poll shows the top two men are beginning to pull away from the rest of the pack, Trump gained one point to 28 percent. Cruz, meanwhile, shot up eight percentage points to 24 percent.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Dr. Ben Carson and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush took a big fall in this pre-Christmas poll.
Rubio finished third with 12 percent, a five-point drop since late November, while Carson continued his downward spiral with 10 percent, a six-point hit in the same period. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie registered 6 percent, his highest level of support in a telephone poll since late May.
Bush dropped to 4 percent, while all other candidates earned 2 percent or less and 8 percent remained undecided. Of those who named a candidate, 58 percent of Republican voters said they might change their mind before voting in their respective state’s primary.
When you take the latest Quinnipiac that came out today and compare to newest FOX News released Dec. 18 that showed Trump with a more commanding 21-point lead but with the Texas senator rising to a then-high of 18 percent in a national poll.
According to the RealClearPolitics average of national polls, Trump leads Cruz by 17.3 percentage points, 34.4 to 17.1. and this likely is the final poll before the Christmas holidays begin.