Trump’s Big Mouth Makes Deceitful Cruz Get on Top
Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz leads Donald Trump by two points in a national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Wednesday.
Trump had held the top spot in the previous 31 consecutive national polls, according to RealClearPolitics, posting a double-digit lead in all but four. In last month’s NBC poll, Trump held a 13-point lead over Cruz.
The Texas senator has 28 percent support in the poll, with Trump at 26 percent. Marco Rubio follows with 17 percent in the poll, which was conducted entirely after Saturday's GOP debate.
Cruz also leads Trump by 16 points in a head-to-head matchup.
Analysis: Cruz’s tax plan would raise taxes on poorest© Provided by The Hill Analysis: Cruz’s tax plan would raise taxes on poorest.
The result is a major coup for Cruz, as Wednesday marked a deepening in tensions between the two leading GOP contenders just days before Saturday's South Carolina primary.
The NBC/Wall Street Journal poll was taken Feb. 14-16 after a South Carolina debate in which Trump attacked former President George W. Bush over the Iraq war and the September 11, 2001 attacks.
It could suggest that the Trump attacks backfired on the frontrunner.
But only time will tell whether the poll is a harbinger of things to come or an outlier.
Quinnipiac released a poll taken between Feb. 10 and Feb. 15 showing Trump with 39 percent and Cruz with 18 percent. A USA Today poll taken Feb. 11 to Feb. 15 found Trump with 35 percent compared to 20 percent for Cruz.
Trump is also comfortably ahead in several recent polls in South Carolina.
Hours before the NBC/Wall Street Journal polling went public, Cruz bashed Trump during a press conference solely dedicated to pushing back at the real estate magnate’s threat of legal action over a Cruz ad that casts Trump as pro-choice.
Cruz tried to call Trump's bluff by telling him to go forward with a lawsuit, while Trump responded with harsh statement chiding Cruz as "Teddy."
The numbers also spell bad news for Jeb Bush, who sits far behind the rest of the field in sixth at 4 percent. Bush battled Trump during Saturday's debate over the attacks on his brother's record.
John Kasich is in fourth place with 11 percent, while Ben Carson is close behind with 10 percent, according to the poll.
The poll found Rubio the most palatable to voters, with 70 percent of GOP voters saying they could see themselves supporting him.
Cruz came in second in that category with 65 percent. Carson came in third with 62 percent, and Trump followed with 56 percent. Both Kasich and Bush were under 50 percent.
The poll showed an increase in "very conservative" Republican voters from January's sample — a possible explanation for Trump's lower-than-expected numbers. When the February sample is weighed to match the January results, Trump leads Cruz by just 1 point.
NBC surveyed 800 registered GOP primary voters. The poll has a margin of error of 4.9 percent.
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