Poll: Ted Cruz overtakes Trump in Iowa

Senator Ted Cruz, who enjoys strong support from evangelical Christians and conservative activists, has become a leader among potential presidential candidates from the Republican Party in Iowa, the state where the nomination process of the party candidate will begin.

This is evidenced by the results of a joint survey of the newspaper Des Moines Register and Bloomberg Politics.

The survey showed that Cruise, who likes to criticize the leaders of both Republicans and Democrats in Washington, enjoys the support of 31 percent of Republican voters who are likely to participate in party meetings (caucuses) to nominate candidates for February 1.

Construction magnate and billionaire Donald Trump are ready to support only 21 percent of respondents.

Trump and another political newcomer, former neurosurgeon Ben Carson, previously headed the ratings of candidates in this state, but since October Cruise’s popularity has grown by an 21 percentage point. During the last survey conducted the other day, 45 percent of respondents who consider themselves Evangelical Christians and 39 percent of conservatives from the Tea Party Movement, who call for limiting the powers and expenses of the federal government, expressed support for it.

In Washington, Cruise was best known for the 16-day partial government shutdown in the 2013 year, which resulted from a failed attempt to repeal the national health care reform law known as Obamacare.

Sociologist Ann Selzer called the results of the Iowa poll a “big shock.”

“For Cruise, this is a sudden exit to the command position,” she said.

Monmouth University last week conducted a parallel survey in Iowa, which also showed that Cruise is ahead of Trump, but only by a small margin. At the same time, a joint survey of CNN and ORC shows that Trump is still leading in the state.

Nationwide, polls show Trump's impressive advantage over Cruise, Carson, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, Florida ex-Governor Jeb Bush (the son and brother of two former US presidents) and the rest of the Republican candidates.

As the season of primaries and caucuses approaches, American voters are paying closer attention to candidates who have been running their campaigns for several months. As a result, polls in individual states indicate fluctuations in candidate support levels as voters narrow down their choices.

As the Forum wrote earlier, among Democrats, according to polls, ex-US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stores serious advantage over other candidates.

The winner of the presidential election, which will be held in November 2016, will replace Obama, who leaves his post in January, 2017.