The exact same thing could be said for Cruz supporters. The "Lyin' Ted" meme is past its expiration date. I'm still in the either/or camp, only because I've cut my freeping time by 75% over the past few weeks.
Ted has kind of a halo, earned or not (I think it’s mostly affected, but still it’s there) that tends to deflect frontal attacks of the kind that Donald has been making.
I think the South is more skeptical of Ted because they know what deeply religious looks like and they aren’t seeing it in Ted. They’ll go with an unbeliever before a phony. Donald could be wise to approach it differently in the North.