16 for '16: The Most Talked-About Potential GOP Presidential Candidates

[240 is Back]

Carson has already overtaken him in most polls, but I don't think Carson will be the nominee.  Definitely don't think Trump will win. 

I like Cruz a lot, but if you look at the total package in terms of the general election, I give the edge to Rubio. 

It has to be cruz, with a small edge for rubio for appearance (even tho he stepped in shit on amnesty and hasn't achieved much in congres.  Cruz did get a shutdown).

Carson and trump - they're just a 'mic in their face away' from saying something that will cost them election.  Yesterday, trump is re-enacting stabbings while Carson is telling us that secret CIA friends told him about putin in college and china in syria.  These two are flippant, immature, and have zero sense of situational awareness.  You want to be president?  You don't do undignified shit like that!

Cruz and rubio are smart - being professional, dignified, and just letting these 2 idiots carry on in the media.  the problem is the 55% of the republican base that are just plain freaking morons too - they have trump and carson in 1st and 2nd place...  they WANT an immature sideshow, because they're immature and low IQ/education.

[polychronopolous]

Carson has already overtaken him in most polls, but I don't think Carson will be the nominee.  Definitely don't think Trump will win. 

I like Cruz a lot, but if you look at the total package in terms of the general election, I give the edge to Rubio. 

The writing is all over the wall. I find myself shaking my head that he is really doing this well so deep into the game but he is.

I think his hardline anti-ISIS rhetoric will also help him in view of the recent Paris attack. And on the flip side I believe it also hurts Rubio with his perceived weak immigration stance.




42 Percent: Trump surges among likely Republican primary voters: Reuters/Ipsos poll

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After a week in which he hosted Saturday Night Live and stood center-stage at a Republican debate, Donald Trump is surging among Republicans likely to cast votes in the party’s presidential primary.

According to the five-day rolling Reuters/Ipsos presidential poll, Trump has leapt some 17 percentage points among likely Republican voters since Nov. 6, when he was essentially tied with Ben Carson at about 25 percent. Trump now captures 42 percent of those voters while Carson has fallen off slightly.

Among all Republicans - not simply likely primary voters -Trump holds a substantial edge over Carson, at 34 percent to about 20 percent, according to the Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Trump’s appearance on NBC's Saturday Night Live earned the program its highest ratings in two years, with 9.3 million viewers tuning in. Then, on Tuesday, 13.5 million viewers watched the debate from Milwaukee broadcast on the Fox Business Network.

It remains to be seen, however, whether Trump’s surge will hold in the wake of his comments at an Iowa rally Thursday night in which he tore into Carson, telling the crowd that Carson has a "pathological" temper.

"If you’re pathological, there’s no cure for that,” Trump said. "If you’re a child molester, there’s no cure for that.”

Trump then posted a video critical of Carson on his Instagram account Friday.

The Republican establishment has long expected the outspoken billionaire to fade, and he has yet to give it the satisfaction. Trump has consistently held more than 25 percent of the support among all Republicans in the Reuters/Ipsos rolling poll for more than two months.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll is also bad news for Marco Rubio, who is widely considered to be emerging as the establishment-backed alternative to Trump. Despite receiving rave notices for his past two debate performance, Rubio’s support has remained flat, with about 10 percent of likely Republican primary voters preferring him.

Those primary voters remain very down on former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Just four percent say they would support Bush in the latest poll.

The results of the five-day rolling Reuters/Ipsos poll was based on a sample of 534 Republicans with a credibility interval of 5 percent. The pool of likely Republican primary voters was based on sample of 257 voters with a credibility interval of 7 percent.

[Dos Equis]

they're immature and low IQ/education.

Don't be so hard on yourself. 

[240 is Back]

Don't be so hard on yourself. 

Why would you swing down?  Why spend a decade debating someone with a 90 IQ?

you're sounding more like an average troll each day.  Ten years ago, you had valid points.  I think we have a little Ben Carson-ism going on.   The Palin thing.  Have you added any new meds which took away a little of that mental horsepower?

[Dos Equis]

Why would you swing down?  Why spend a decade debating someone with a 90 IQ?

you're sounding more like an average troll each day.  Ten years ago, you had valid points.  I think we have a little Ben Carson-ism going on.   The Palin thing.  Have you added any new meds which took away a little of that mental horsepower?

Perfect example of why you do not have a 137 IQ.  I do not debate you.  I mock you.  Anyone with a 137 IQ would know that. 

[Dos Equis]

The writing is all over the wall. I find myself shaking my head that he is really doing this well so deep into the game but he is.

I think his hardline anti-ISIS rhetoric will also help him in view of the recent Paris attack. And on the flip side I believe it also hurts Rubio with his perceived weak immigration stance.

I cannot believe he has lasted this long, but I am not a believer in his candidacy.  I want to see what happens in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. 

[Dos Equis]

Big Ben: Carson takes lead from Trump, tops with Hispanics, white evangelicals
By Paul Bedard (@SecretsBedard)
11/17/15

Republican presidential candidate, Dr. Ben Carson speaks at a news conference, Monday, Nov. 16, 2015, in Henderson, Nev. Carson called for Congress to cut off funding for resettlement of Syrian immigrants in the U.S. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson has vaulted into the lead in the GOP primary race, backed by Hispanics and white evangelical voters according to a huge new poll of 2,700 people.

The new American Values Survey finds Carson on top of the race with 27 percent followed by Donald Trump at 20 percent, and Sen. Ted Cruz at 10 percent. The poll revealed a one-month reversal between Carson and Trump.

The survey, released at the Brookings Institution Tuesday morning, also showed Carson leading among Hispanics and white evangelical Christians.

With Hispanics, Carson he has a 32 percent favorability rating. Only 18 percent of Hispanics have an unfavorable view of the retired surgeon.

Jeb Bush is second with a 28 percent favorable rating, but a large 45 percent have an unfavorable view of the former Florida governor. With Trump, 80 percent of Hispanics have an unfavorable view.

Among white evangelicals, a group sought by several candidates including Sen. Ted Cruz and former Sen. Rick Santorum, Carson also leads, and overwhelmingly. Some 55 percent have a favorable view of Carson. Next is Bush at 41 percent favorable, and Trump with a 39 percent favorable rating.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/no.-1-carson-tops-among-republicans-hispanics-white-evangelicals/article/2576528#.VktYyDcw6Ex.facebook

[240 is Back]

DE,

do you think carson is still the frontrunner by thanksgiving?

[polychronopolous]

Donald Trump pimp slaps another heckler

[Dos Equis]

Secretive GOP Group Targets Trump for Destruction

Image: Secretive GOP Group Targets Trump for Destruction
By Sandy Fitzgerald   |   Saturday, 21 Nov 2015

Top Republican establishment forces are joining up to eliminate Donald Trump from the presidential race through a "guerrilla campaign," backed by secret donors, The Wall Street Journal reports Saturday.

In a page-one story, the paper reported that anti-Trump efforts are being spearheaded by a one-time Republican National Party online communications director who worked briefly for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's failed bid for the GOP nomination.

The group, called Trump Card LLC , is headed by former RNC employee Liz Mair. A detailed memo of their plans, obtained by The Wall Street Journal, says without efforts from GOP establishment, "Trump is exceedingly unlikely to implode or be forced out of the race."

Further, Mair asserts in the memo, "the stark reality is that unless something dramatic and unconventional is done, Trump will be the Republican nominee and Hillary Clinton will become president.”

Trump Card’s plan is to expose Trump’s policy positions as not being conservative. In the past, Trump has advocated higher taxes, supported affirmative action, called for a government-run, single-payer healthcare system used by Canada and Britain, and backed the Supreme Court’s Lowe decision that gives government the right to easily seize private property for private businesses.

Trump Card is not alone in efforts to target the billionaire front-runner.

One super PAC for Ohio Gov. John Kasich has begun with a series of anti-Trump advertising, while ex-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush attacked Trump on Friday and a Club for Growth-related super PAC plans to resume attack ads in Iowa against the New York billionaire. The Club’s ad campaign in Iowa has been cited for Trump’s sagging numbers in that state, which show rival Ben Carson leading the field there.

And noted Republican strategist Rick Wilson, currently working for a Rubio super PAC, has offered to prepare attack ads hitting Trump on his record.

Until now, campaigns have shied away from attacking Trump directly, but as the year comes to an end and the primary elections near, Trump remains at the top of most national GOP polls.

But Mair said her group's efforts have been going on for several weeks, and the structure of her organization will allow donors to remain anonymous.
Special: Barbara Walters Refuses to Return to the View, Due to This Secret
Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said on Friday that Mair worked for Walker, so "who can blame her" for her new push.

And Saturday morning, Trump himself called out Mair on Twitter:

A woman who got fired after two days of working with Scott Walker - a wacko - now trying to raise funds to fight me.
5:23 AM - 21 Nov 2015
   993 993 Retweets   2,418 2,418 likes

Mair was forced to resign in March from Walker's campaign after she made a series of comments on Twitter that bashed the state of Iowa and its role in the presidential nomination process. 

Trump Card, as a limited liability company, does not have to disclose donors to the Federal Election Commission, and Mair claims donors backing Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Kasich, and Bush are interested in backing her initiative, but worry that making donations public will hurt their candidates' campaigns.

Rick Wilson told The Wall Street Journal that he believes there will be many people donating to an anti-Trump effort, as they are taking the threat that Trump "will destroy the Republican Party and lose the general election to Hillary Clinton seriously."

On Thursday, New Day for America, the super PAC that backs Kasich, started a series of ads that mention the Nov. 13 terrorism attacks, and say that "on-the-job training" for the White House does not work. Trump threatened to sue the organization.

And on Friday, Bush told CNBC's "Squawk Box" that Trump's talk about closing mosques and registering refugees is "just wrong" and shows weakness, not strength.

Mair's efforts could include ads set to intentionally tweak Trump, including comparing him to his foe, Rosie O'Donnell, said the memo, or ads that show his support of socialized medicine or eminent domain and use a Trump impersonator to show him insulting people.

The goal is to keep Trump supporters from voting, the memo said, not to convert them into backing other candidates. Trump Card hopes to gather a quarter-million dollars from donors throughout several other candidates' camps for their push.

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/secret-gop-group-dump/2015/11/21/id/703109/#ixzz3sMlcFnKq

[240 is Back]

Secretive GOP Group Targets Trump for Destruction

maybe because trump is terrible for the republican party.


he's everything NOT tea party.  say goodbye to the SCOTUS.

[Dos Equis]

Quinnipiac Poll: Cruz, Trump in Virtual Tie In Iowa

Image: Quinnipiac Poll: Cruz, Trump in Virtual Tie In Iowa
By Sandy Fitzgerald   |   Tuesday, 24 Nov 2015

Ted Cruz on Wednesday edged into a virtual tie with GOP front-runner Donald Trump in a new Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday for the state of Iowa, with Trump retaining a narrow lead of 25 percent of the vote, followed by Cruz with 23 percent, doubling his support from four weeks ago.

By the numbers:
Trump, 25 percent;
Cruz, 23 percent;
Dr. Ben Carson, 18 percent;
Sen. Marco Rubio, 13 percent;
Sen. Rand Paul, 5 percent;
Former Gov. Jeb Bush, 4 percent;
Carly Fiorina, 3 percent;
Gov. Chris Christie, 2 percent;
Former Gov. Mike Huckabee, 2 percent;
Former Sen. Rick Santorum, 2 percent;
Gov. John Kasich, 1 percent;
Former Gov. Jim Gilmore, Sen. Lindsey Graham, Former Gov. George Pataki, zero.

In an Oct. 22 Quinnipiac Poll, Carson had 28 percent, Trump had 20 percent, Rubio was at 13 percent, and Cruz nabbed 10 percent. Bush's numbers remained virtually the same, as he had 5 percent in the October poll.

The Quinnipiac Poll was conducted between Nov. 16-22 of 600 likely Iowa Republican Caucus participants, and carried a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points. In addition, 58 percent of the voters said they might still change their minds.

"Last month, we said it was Dr. Ben Carson's turn in the spotlight. Today, the spotlight turns to Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. The Iowa Republican Caucus has become a two-tiered contest: Businessman Donald Trump and neurosurgeon Ben Carson lead on the outsider track, and Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio lead among party insiders," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.

Brown, though, pointed out that winning in Iowa is no guarantee of winning the primary election, as Huckabee won the GOP caucus in 2008 and Santorum in 2012, but "both were quickly gone from those nomination fights as the primary calendar moved to larger states."

Cruz' Iowa numbers are in line with other polls released in recent days, including a new CBS News Poll that showed he'd replaced Carson in second place, with the retired neurosurgeon slipping into third place.

Meanwhile, Carson received the top favorability rating, at 79-15 percent, followed by 73-15 percent for Cruz, 70-18 percent for Rubio, and 59-34 percent for Trump.

Bush's numbers, though, continued to prove disappointing. He had a negative 39-53 percent ranking, and 26 percent of the Caucus-goers said they "would definitely not support him," with another 23 percent saying they would not support Trump.

Meanwhile, just five percent said they would not support Cruz, who got the best numbers in that category:

Trump, 23 percent;
Cruz, 5 percent;
Carson, 9 percent;
Rubio, 7 percent;
Paul, 12 percent;
Bush, 26 percent;
Fiorina, 10 percent;
Christie, 14 percent;
Huckabee, 10 percent;
Santorum, 9 percent;
Gov. John Kasich, 19 percent;
Gilmore, 11 percent;
Graham, 15 percent;
Pataki, 14 percent

The voters said the economy and jobs are the most important issues determining who will get their vote, 24 percent of the voters said, followed by 15 percent on terrorism and foreign policy, 11 percent on the federal deficit, and 10 percent for immigration.

On the economy, 49 percent of the voters said Trump is best, followed by 11 percent for Cruz. Carson, Rubio, and Fiorina were picked by six percent each.

Trump was also deemed tops for handling terrorism by 30 percent of the voters, followed by 20 percent for Cruz, 10 percent for Rubio and 7 percent for Bush. Carson, Paul, and Christie followed at five percent each.

Cruz, though, was deemed best on foreign policy by 24 percent, followed by 18 percent for Trump, 15 percent for Rubio, and 8 percent for Bush. Carson and Paul each had six percent.

The caucus-goers also overwhelmingly opposed allowing Syrian refugees to come to the United States, by 81-15 percent, and 82 percent said they do they not want them in Iowa.

However, they overwhelmingly supported, by 73-22 percent, sending U.S. ground troops to Iraq and Syria to fight ISIS, and 88 percent said they're either very worried or somewhat worried about the possibility of a terrorist attack in the United States that is similar to the one in Paris on Nov. 13.

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Ted-Cruz-Donald-Trump-Iowa-Tie/2015/11/24/id/703356/#ixzz3sQPnWVJV

[Dos Equis]

Gallup: Rubio, Cruz Battle Carson for Best-Liked GOP Candidate

Image: Gallup: Rubio, Cruz Battle Carson for Best-Liked GOP Candidate (Getty Images)
By Cathy Burke   
Tuesday, 24 Nov 2015

Ben Carson's lock on the most-popular GOP presidential candidate is getting a serious challenge from Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz – with the Florida senator in a virtual tie with Carson for best-liked, Gallup poll analysts say.

Polling firm analyst Andrew Dugan and Gallup's editor-in-chief, Frank Newport, write Tuesday Rubio's and Texas lawmaker Cruz's "net favorable rating" – the difference between the share of Republicans who say they have a favorable opinion and those who've got an unfavorable view – is now 48 and 45 respectively.

The retired pediatric neurosurgeon's net favorable rating is 49 for the latest two-week rolling average as measured by Gallup's Daily tracking – a significant drop from the 61 he registered in early November, the analysts note.

"Rubio, now statistically tied with Carson for the title of best-liked GOP candidate, was judged by many in the press and political class to have registered an especially strong debate performance in the Oct. 28 contest," the writers argue.

"Cruz is also now experiencing a jolt of warm impressions from the Republican faithful after months during which he appeared to gain little traction in terms of improving his image."

The pair write Cruz may have turned the tide in the third GOP debate, when he blasted the CNBC panel moderators – and then lashed into the media at large.
Latest News Update

"This, no doubt, resonated with the Republican faithful; Gallup has repeatedly found that Republicans are very unlikely to say they have a great deal or a fair amount of confidence in the mass media," the analysts write. "Cruz now has the highest net favorable score since Gallup began tracking in mid-July."

For Carson, however, the downward slide comes in the wake of challenges to his image over his personal biography, the writers note.

According to the pollsters, the favorability tracking also shows:
A "major jump" in the net favorable rating for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who stands at 12 in the latest two-week average – up 14 points.
Carly Fiorina, at 26, has seen her net favorable rating increase by 7 points.
Donald Trump, at 20, has a net favorable rating increase of 3 points.
Jeb Bush is "relatively stable" at 16, with no net favorability rating increase.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich's net favorable rating is at 6, a 3 point rise.

http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/Best-liked-GOP-Candidate-Ben-Carson/2015/11/24/id/703385/#ixzz3sWioaZyE Now!

[Dos Equis]

Political Prediction Market: Rubio continues to lead, but Cruz rises
By Eli Watkins, CNN
Wed November 25, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

Washington (CNN)  As the Iowa caucuses approach, Ted Cruz is receiving renewed attention and has seen his odds of capturing the GOP's presidential nomination increase in recent weeks on CNN's Political Prediction market.

Cruz's odds stand at 19%, just one point shy of Donald Trump, who stands at 20%.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio continues to lead the GOP pack on Pivit with almost 50%.

CNN's Political Prediction Market is not a poll asking who a likely voter supports. It is a live, online prediction game administered by a company called Pivit. It considers polls and other factors, including input from online players about who they think will actually win.

Cruz leads the nomination market in one vital contest: Iowa.

Cruz bests all of his competition there, with a 37% chance of capturing the first-in-the-nation caucuses.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Carson have fallen to 5 and 2% chances of winning the nomination in the market, respectively.

A recent Quinnipiac University poll shows Trump leading in Iowa, with Cruz overtaking Ben Carson for second place.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/25/politics/ted-cruz-odds-pivit-iowa/index.html

[240 is Back]

trump's national lead may be unbeatable soon.  TRIPLING everyone else nationally.

everyone expects a strong religious candidate to win iowa.

[polychronopolous]

trump's national lead may be unbeatable soon.  TRIPLING everyone else nationally.

everyone expects a strong religious candidate to win iowa.

If the guy quit acting like a jackass he would be unbeatable.

Making fun of a reporters heart condition?

Personally I am on the fence because it was a New York Times reporter and therefore likely a complete dickhead who deserves to be mocked but still...

[240 is Back]

It's 2015.   40% of repubs don't care about the insults that'd disqualify someone from student union president. 

The other 60% is divided.  If the repubs would just unite behind a Rubio or cruz, they could beat trump.   

[Dos Equis]

Republican Trump drops 12 percentage points in poll: Reuters/Ipsos
WASHINGTON | BY ALANA WISE
Politics | Fri Nov 27, 2015


U.S. presidential hopeful Donald Trump's support among Republicans has dropped 12 points in less than a week, marking the real estate mogul's biggest decline since he vaulted to the top of the field in July, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Trump was the favorite of 31 percent of Republicans in a rolling poll in the five days ended on Nov. 27. That was down from a peak of 43 percent registered on Nov. 22.

The dip follows criticism of Trump for comments he made in the aftermath of the Nov. 13 Paris attacks that killed 130 people and wounded hundreds more.

Following the attacks, Trump told an NBC News reporter that he would support requiring all Muslims within the United States to be registered to a special database, which his critics have likened to the mandatory registration of Jews in Nazi Germany.

Trump has also been criticized for flailing his arms and distorting his speech as he mocked a New York Times reporter, Serge Kovaleski, who is disabled.

Trump mocked the reporter as he defended his unsubstantiated assertion that during the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, he watched on television as "thousands and thousands" of people in New Jersey cheered while the World Trade Center fell.

Still, Trump is not the only front-runner to slide in the latest survey.

Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson has seen his poll numbers drift downward and now trails Trump by more than half, with just 15 percent of Republicans polled saying they would vote for him in the same Nov. 27 poll. As recently as late October, Carson trailed Trump by only six points.

Following Carson, Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Texas Senator Ted Cruz are tied for third place, with more than 8 percent each.

Following Rubio and Cruz was former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, with 7 percent.

The five-day rolling average sample size ranged from 464 to 347 respondents between Nov. 22 and Nov. 27, with a credibility interval of 5.2 to 6.1 percentage points.

For more on the 2016 U.S. presidential race and to learn about the undecided voters who determine elections, visit the Reuters website. (here)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/27/us-election-trump-idUSKBN0TG2AN20151127#4q76sQ48gu5HYeRC.99

[240 is Back]

Republican Trump drops 12 percentage points in poll: Reuters/Ipsos

Enough republicans think his making fun of the handicapped is funny.   Trump will keep on plowing through.

Props to dos equis for being honest about the classless mess that is Trump.  Most repubs are just climbing on the bandwagon like they did with palin.  She could barely finish a run-on sentence, and people wanted to give her the nuclear football.

[whork]

Enough republicans think his making fun of the handicapped is funny.   Trump will keep on plowing through.

Props to dos equis for being honest about the classless mess that is Trump.  Most repubs are just climbing on the bandwagon like they did with palin.  She could barely finish a run-on sentence, and people wanted to give her the nuclear football.

Yeah me and Bum has had our differences, but he has been consistent on this. Props.

[240 is Back]

Yeah me and Bum has had our differences, but he has been consistent on this. Props.

tonymctones has also been critical of trump.
HH6 has, but I'm a little worried he isn't as vocal on it.

The typical "i love everything GOP" nut huggers have been all over Trump.  "I like some of his ideas" makes it okay to mock veterans.  Note: they didn't serve.   "I like some of his ideas" makes it okay to shit on women.  Note: their history with women speaks for itself.  "I like some of his ideas" makes it okay to shit on handicapped people because, well, they're just ignorant.

I see it in real life, and on getbig too.  Typical and predictable.

[Dos Equis]

Top Fundraiser Quits Carson's Campaign

Image: Top Fundraiser Quits Carson's Campaign   (Getty Images)
By Cathy Burke   |    Thursday, 03 Dec 2015
 
Ben Carson says he's not concerned about the loss of his campaign's co-chairman – one his top fundraisers — who reportedly is frustrated about the direction of the campaign.

"People come and go, particularly when they feel that things aren't being run the way they want them to be run," Carson said in response to a report in The Wall Street Journal of Bill Millis' departure as co-chair, The Hill reports.

"You'd have to talk to him to find out what exactly he wants to happen."

Millis claims to have raised more than $400,000 for the campaign but will no longer raise money or sit on the campaign board. He tells the Journal, however, he sill supports the retired pediatric neurosurgeon.

http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/ben-carson-fundraiser-quits-campaign/2015/12/03/id/704426/#ixzz3tIrjX3IN

[240 is Back]

Carson can't tell the difference between Hummus and Hamas. 

No, seriously. 

LOL @ all the repubs who camped out on his nut sack for so long.  Oh, the libs kept saying he was a stoned dumbass, but it was just so hard to believe a person could be smart in the operating room but a delusional zealot everywhere else.

[Dos Equis]

Pollster Zogby: Cruz Control of New Iowa Poll Doesn't Surprise Me
By Bill Hoffmann     
Monday, 07 Dec 2015

The meteoric rise of Sen. Ted Cruz to front-runner among voters in the upcoming Iowa presidential caucuses shouldn't be a surprise to anybody, veteran pollster John Zogby tells Newsmax TV.

"[It's] totally predictable. He's got a focused message, he appears very strong," Zogby, CEO of Zogby Analytics, said Monday on "Newsmax Prime" with J.D. Hayworth.

"He appeals to both the tea party and the Christian conservatives."

In a new poll released by Monmouth University, Cruz, a Texas Republican, sailed past Donald Trump and Ben Carson in Iowa to become the front-runner in the intensifying race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.

Monmouth said Carson had the steepest decline of any candidate, plummeting 19 points from a poll two months ago that had him as the front-runner in the Hawkeye State which will hold its GOP caucuses in February.

Zogby told Hayworth that Cruz is the beneficiary of the former top candidates starting to lose steam.

"As we figured from the beginning, once Trump begins to fade and Carson begins to fade, those votes are going to go to Ted Cruz and it looks like they are right now," Zogby said.

But Cruz isn't a shoo-in by any stretch of the imagination, according to the pollster.
"He's got to worry about not peaking too soon," Zogby said.

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsmax-Tv/john-zogby-ted-cruz-polling-iowa/2015/12/07/id/704889/#ixzz3trgpfVbN

[Dos Equis]

Gallup: Trump Least-Liked Candidate

Image: Gallup: Trump Least-Liked Candidate (Getty Images)
By Loren Gutentag   
Thursday, 10 Dec 2015

Although Donald Trump may be a well-known GOP presidential candidate, a new Gallup poll released Thursday shows that the real estate mogul is not well-liked.

According to the poll, 91 percent of U.S. adults were familiar with Trump, but 59 percent had an unfavorable view of him — the most negative of any candidate in either party.

Thirty-two percent said they had a favorable view of him, giving him a net-negative favorability of -27 points.

Trump's latest favorability rating is 13 points lower than Florida Gov. Jeb Bush with whom 78 percent of respondents were familiar.

On the Democratic side, front-runner Hillary Clinton led all candidates with 94 percent of U.S. adults who said they were familiar with her. However, her net favorability rating was -4 points with 45 percent having a favorable view and 49 percent having an unfavorable view.

In terms of recognition, the top four candidates are also the bottom four candidates in terms of negative favorability ratings:

Hillary Clinton, -4 points;
Donald Trump, -27 points;
Jeb Bush, -14 points;
Chris Christie -5 points;

However, in terms of overall recognition, Gallup shows that former neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson has seen the largest gains in public familiarity. Over the last five months, Carson has seen a 30-point increase in favorability from 30 percent to 66 percent.

According to the poll, Carson and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio also had the largest net positive favorability ratings:

Ben Carson, +6 points, 30 percent unfavorable to 36 percent;
Sen. Marco Rubio, +5 points, 28 percent to 33 percent.

Gallup gathered the results as part of its rolling U.S. daily survey taken from Nov. 23-Dec. 7, polling a random sample of 6,603 adults via landlines and cellphones, with individual respondent pools ranging between 1,800 and 1,950 adults.

The margin of error for samples in which respondents rated each candidate is plus or minus 2 percentage points.

http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/Gallup-Trump-Least-Liked-Candidate/2015/12/10/id/705282/#ixzz3tywQZD1M