He may be brilliant but the creep factor is an electability issue. Can’t see my millennial kids getting all “Cruz-ed” up. As a VP maybe, but even Rubio would play better than he does. (And I think that Ted is wrong on that one. Rubio’s Spanish IS better!)
Cruz has an unctuous quality that is off-putting to ordinary voters - I think. He may play well to a small population of people in this country. We’ll see!
I do not pick my religion based on the “world”, I won’t be picking my presidential candidate that way either. I may not get my pick, but I am not swayed by what the world believes and wants, because the world is not who I am. I live in the world, but I am not of it. I am about God. Ted is the one who most closely represents that.