Very surprising that Cruz is not 2nd choice of so-call tea party folks. Carson is outsider, non-politician, but nothing about him is Trump-like or what I’d call tea-party.
“We aren’t racists, dammit!” There it is.
I really believe the Cruz vote is tied up in the Trump support for the time being, and are greatly relieved that Cruz has something going with Trump, just-in-case......
It seems that some of the TEA Party is made of people who stayed home in 2008 and/or voted for Obama and then regretted it soon after. Independents and Reagan Democrats.