“Vote for anyone but Cruz,” declared the much-vaunted Iowa establishment governor, Terry Branstad. Between Trump, the establishment, and Fox News, they threw everything they had at him in the months preceding the 2016 Iowa Caucus.We heard it all: birtherism, ethanol, Goldman Sachs loans, the Palin endorsement, Cruz supposedly losing every debate, the Santorum/Huckabee sniping, the entire establishment ganging up to defeat him. Then we were told that even if Cruz wins Iowa, a victory would only occur in the event of low turnout. After all, the newbies will all be for Trump. Well, Cruz won with a record turnout, projected to be near 180,000. It also appears that Cruz will break Mike Huckabee’s previous record of the most total votes received by the caucus winner. And he did it in an eleven-person race.
All the pundits said Cruz had no real chance in Iowa, Trump led the polls for months. Cruz opposed ethanol, that was supposed to be a nail in the coffin.
But after the vote.... it was tailor-made... lol.
Cruz won because only 5% of caucus-goers said Trump shared their values.
Keep telling yourself that. Trump was beating Ted Cruz in the last 13 polls for Iowa, all in the last week. CNN and Fox polls had Cruz losing by a massive 11 points and Cruz still won, and not by a squeaker like Hilary Clinton, but by 4 points. That is pretty impressive need matter how you twist it.