Huge News in Des Moines Register Poll: Cruz Surges to First with 31%, Trump Follows with 21%

PJ Media ^ | 12-13-2015 | Michael van der Galien

[Michael van der Galien]

Is the tide turning against Donald Trump in Iowa? According to the latest Des Moines Register poll the answer is "yes."

The billionaire businessman and loose cannon extraordinaire has fallen to second place in the poll with 21 percent. He picked up 2 percentage points since the last poll, but is trailing Ted Cruz by 10 percentage points. The senator from Texas is now the favorite of 31 percent of Republican voters in Iowa.

There are two stories here. The first is that Trump has peaked in Iowa. The second story is Cruz's amazing surge. The senator is rapidly ascending; he has experienced a 21-point leap since the last DMR/Bloomberg poll. No other candidate in history has seen such a big surge in such a short amount of time.

The main reason for Cruz's rapid ascent is that evangelical and Tea Party conservatives are flocking to him. Jamie Johnson, an Iowa political operative, explains that there's another reason he's doing so well while Trump is stuck:

"Iowa's 11th commandment is thou shalt be nice. Donald Trump has violated this commandment one too many times. Now he is paying the price."

Considering how Trump talks about the Bible and Christianity in general, he probably doesn't even know the meaning of the word "commandment." It's not exactly shocking that he routinely violates one. Or two.

After the poll results were announced, Cruz took to Facebook to thank his supporters.

And The Donald? Well, let's just say he responded slightly less graciously:

[TWEET]

This is par for the course with Trump. He's always criticizing everyone and everything unless they say he's in the lead. Then they're suddenly the best, most terrific and most reliable poll agencies or news outlets in the country. You'd laugh if it wasn't so incredibly sad.

[C. Edmund Wright]

This will be interesting as Cruz is owned by the oil companies and is therefore opposed to corn ethanol. Trump supports ethanol. Do Iowans want their economy to do well or do they choose to follow the bible beating BVP?

PING to perhaps the most telling trumpette supporter yet.....assuming in her limited vision that you only oppose ethanol if you are owned by big oil....that being a Christian is now a bad thing.....and we must love ethanol so it helps Iowa and Washington cronies while screwing the other 320 million people.

Who knew that being anti Christian and pro ethanol was the "new conservative?"

[Johnny B.]

yeah we want a guy who is nice

Wow! That's the first time I've heard anyone accuse Cruz of being too nice.

[Johnny B.]

Trump supports ethanol

Principled conservatives appose corporate welfare, regardless of who the recipients happen to be.

[Lib-Lickers 2]

well if it’s mandatory that the Republican must follow some made up 11th commandment then I guess Trump is out. Huckabee for President!

[RonnG]

Trump is not going to win the GOP nomination. To the glee of Clintons and the left wing establishment he may run a Perot like third party campaign. I don't trust him

Trump supported Single Payer Government run healthcare. He fought against the taking out Saddam Hussein. He has donated, over the years, more to the liberal causes and politicians than he has to Republican ones. His list of recipients include Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer, Charlie Crist, Harry Reid, Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, Charlie Rangel not to mention Obama’s hand picked mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emmanuel. Trump has no core beliefs. He is in it for himself and, for his own ego. Period. Say what you will about Barrack Hussein Obama. At least he is committed to his left wing ideology Trump has none.

As for Cruz, he is a true Conservative both fiscally and socially. And while Trump has been living in penthouses entertaining limousine liberals, Cruz has been fighting in the trenches for the conservative causes he believes in. I am still undecided but Cruz is certainly a candidate I could support without reservation.

[rwoodward]

Trump followers do not jump ship! This poll is 100 percent BS!

[Lib-Lickers 2]

well that means and maybe you are correct that there are no totally principled conservatives running since they ALL have their own special corporate welfare buddies they do favors for.. some more than others to be sure

[Lib-Lickers 2]

sorry to say but Ted Cruz will get maybe 3 Democrats to vote for him next November and maybe 1/3 of indies

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

if you want to believe that all of a sudden 1/3 of Trump’s followers left him in less than a week and went to Cruz then you go right ahead with that delusion

The last Register poll was the one that had Carson leading. That was, what, 1-1/2 months ago?

This poll shows Cruz up by the amount Carson dropped. Makes sense to me. Cruz is a far more credible evangelical than Trump.

[EEGator]

And he never responds in the comments section here. He posts his blog and bails. He’s what the Irish call “a c**t.”

[Lib-Lickers 2]

well the CNN poll last week had Trump at 33% and polled more likely caucus goers

[odawg]

“Cruz has been fighting in the trenches for the conservative causes he believes in.”

I didn’t realize the the Obama agenda was conservative, such as the Iranian deal that Cruz voted for, or the TPA that Cruz enthusiastically voted for, or wanting to raise H1-B visas by 500% or legalizing illegals or increasing the rate of immigration beyond the 1 million plus per year or rejecting the importation of Muslim terrorists, which is what Muslim immigration is, in case you haven’t noticed.

[arthurus]

Actually this is not good news for Conservatives even as Cruz is the more Conservative candidate. If one actually conservative candidate does not pretty much run the table on the primaries, the GOPe gets the nomination. If the conservatives split the primaries and keep each other to plurality victories then the GOPe gets the nomination. We get a GOPe we get Amnesty. When we get Amnesty all opposition to the Democrat Party is finished in the time it takes to register 20 million new citizen voters which is what? two years? six months?

[RonnG]

Didn’t know Cruz was in favor of the Iran Deal.

“The specter of a nuclear-armed Islamic Republic of Iran is the single greatest threat facing our nation, and if President Barack Obama’s catastrophic nuclear deal with the mullahs goes forward, there will be nothing to stop them from obtaining a nuclear bomb. Astonishingly, we do not even know how bad the deal is because the Administration has not released all of the information relating to side deals with Iran as they are obligated to do under the terms of Corker-Cardin, the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act that Congress passed and the President signed into law.”

Ted Cruz

[DaveA37]

Yet ANOTHER poll.........

Politicians and the medias creed: “Tell them what you want them to hear”.

Or, “Throw enough BS on the wall, eventually some of it will stick” (A Clinton favorite)

[tennmountainman]

Is the tide turning?
Yes. It has turned numerous times.

Walker first lead Iowa. Then Trump. Then Carson. Then Trump.
And now Cruz.

What it tells us is how fk’ed up Iowa voters are.
Flavor of the month type voters.

I believe this poll sponsored by a liberal rag just set Cruz up for a big fall.
After his big rise.

[RonnG]

At this point, it is hard to see any Republican winning in 2016 based on current demographics. Hispanics and Blacks overwhelmingly support the left. Many will vote for Hillary just because she is a woman. Still, I see Cruz or even Rubio cutting into the left’s stronghold on the Hispanic vote. Cruz did receive 40% in 2012 so perhaps there is a possibility for a closer race in states like Florida and a few others.

But if nothing else, win or lose, I would relish the opportunity to see Cruz isolate HRC on stage , without her handlers, without her teleprompter or talking point memos in hand, in a series of debates.

In the big picture, 8 more years of HRC and far left government represent clear and present dangers to the survival of this nation. All else is of secondary importance. But if we lose in 2016, I hope we at least go down with a fight.

[pas]

So you are saying Trump should be the nominee because he is electable. Just like McCain and Romney.

[Covenantor]

Here are the top three 2012 Iowa Caucus final results

1. Rick Santorum 24.6%....29,839 votes

2. Mitt Romney 24.6%....29,805 votes

3. Ron Paul 21.5%....26,036

Santorum beat Romney by a mere four points; Ron Paul by 3.803

So it's pretty clear that the ground game is paramount, getting voters to the cauci is critical.

What"s your take on the ground in Iowa?

[odawg]

Yes, that is what I have been shouting about. The Corker bill, a bill that was written by the White House that enabled the Iranian deal and was voted for by Cruz and all the Republican Senators except Cotton of Arkansas.

What Cruz said about the Iran deal is ABSOLUTELY correct. He votes for the Corker bill that green-lighted the Iranian deal and then condemns it. NOBODY will ask him about it, ask him to explain the screaming contradiction. They just prattle about his unflinching adherence to pure conservatism, his consistent conservatism, his sterling conservatism. He sold out completely when he voted for the diabolical Iranian deal, Obama’s agenda.