So it is of interest whether or not this very Cruz-Helpful poll will make the list of 5 that will be selected by Fox News to pick the 10 debate candidates.
For reference here is the Fox News Criteria:
"Candidates must place "in the top 10 of an average of the five most recent national polls, as recognized by Fox News leading up to August 4th at 5 PM/ET," Fox News Executive Vice President Michael Clemente announced. "Such polling must be conducted by major, nationally recognized organizations that use standard methodological techniques.""
NBC/WSJ certainly meets the "major, nationally" criteria but the "most recent" bit makes it somewhat ambiguous.
There will be a flood of polls coming in Monday and Tuesday. Will they push this favorable poll off the list? Who knows?
I'm going to send a text message to "The Shadow" and see if I can get a little insight into what Fox will actually do. I'll post anything I learn. This guy is good, really good. I've been following him for years.
Donald Trump Surges in New NBC News/WSJ Poll
"...Jeb Bush is the second choice of 16 percent of respondents, with Carson, Trump, and Rubio all winning the second choice spot from 11 percent of voters....."
Donald Trump Leads Republican Presidential Pack, WSJ/NBC Poll Finds
"......The new poll, whose full results will be released Monday, was based on a survey conducted July 26-30, after Mr. Trump made widely publicized controversial statements, such as when he disparaged former GOP presidential nominee John McCain.
The differences among the top-tier candidates are small enough that they are within the poll’s margin of sampling error. Still, the double-digit jump among Republicans picking Mr. Trump as their first choice—up from 1% in the June poll—was significant.
What’s more, Republicans who don’t see Mr. Trump as their first choice seem to be warming to him. The share of GOP voters who pick him as second choice rose to 11% in the new survey from 3% in June...."