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A fresh NBC News poll has both the Trump and DeSantis campaigns energized -- but for different reasons. Trump allies are touting its GOP primary top line finding that the former president is still leading the 2024 Republican presidential field by a wide margin, currently garnering a 51 percent majority among an increasingly crowded field. Gov. Ron DeSantis remains in second place, nearly 30 percentage points behind Trump nationally, with nobody else cracking double digits. If nothing changes over the next half-year, particularly in the crucial early states, Trump could be on a glide path to the nomination. Indeed, if...

There is no denying that Donald Trump still holds the most sway over the Republican base. He is a former president, he is still (in their eyes) being persecuted unfairly by the Democrats and the Biden administration, and he is certainly an attention-grabber. But there is a major difference between dominating a primary and winning a general election, and the most recent polling seems to show that, for all his support among Republicans, Trump is still not yet favored over Joe Biden in a “Devil You Know vs. Another Devil You Know” election fight. On Sunday, NBC News released its...

Ron DeSantis’ 2024 campaign launch ran into a few glitches on Wednesday evening, but it wasn’t long before he hit his stride. After spending 75 minutes talking policy with Elon Musk, the Florida man shifted over to do primetime interviews with Mark Levin and Trey Gowdy before holding a tele-town hall with voters. He’s scheduled to cap his roll-out off in Iowa on Tuesday with an in-person rally at a baseball stadium. Still, the headlines from the mainstream press weren’t kind to DeSantis. Many proclaimed his launch to be a “disaster,” with some going so far as to claim his...

<p>As we saw in Colorado — and North Dakota, and Louisiana, and elsewhere — Team Cruz is much, much better than Team Trump at understanding and taking advantage of each state’s distinctive primary or caucus rules to maximize its delegate tally.</p>

A judge in New Jersey has ruled that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is indeed a natural-born citizen and is therefore eligible to be on the New Jersey ballot. Cruz, who was born in Calgary while his father was working there, is an American citizen via his mother's American citizenship.

Donald Trump’s campaign is increasingly falling into disarray as the Manhattan billionaire braces for a loss in Wisconsin that could set him on course for an uncertain convention floor fight for the Republican presidential nomination. Since March, the campaign has been laying off field staff en masse around the country and has dismantled much of what existed of its organizations in general-election battlegrounds, including Florida and Ohio. Last month, the campaign laid off the leader of its data team, Matt Braynard, who did not train a successor. It elevated his No. 2, a data engineer with little prior high-level political...

On Tuesday during CNN's town hall, Donald Trump was asked what he thinks are the top three functions of government. He answered, "[t]he greatest function of all by far is security for our nation. I would also say health care, I would also say education." Republicans have long tried to limit the federal government's involvement in health care and education.

A new ad that will be airing in upcoming primary states...

Forgive me for repeating a point that's already been made by Rich and others, but I think it bears sustained consideration. Donald Trump's professed strategy - for everything - is: I'll find the best people, the smartest people, terrific people, and those terrific people will come up with the best solutions possible. Implicit here is a pyramid of terrificness with Donald Trump at its apex. And what was Trump's explanation for his poor performance in Iowa? "People told me my ground game was fine." I.e., "I got bad advice." As it turns out, Trump could not find the best people,...

Ted Cruz unloaded on his rival Donald Trump after the real estate mogul accused him of voter fraud over Twitter. "I wake up every day and laugh at the latest thing Donald has tweeted," said Cruz, calling Wednesday’s outburst a "Trumpertantrum" brought on by Trump's inability to "debate the substance." On Wednesday morning, Trump sent out a series of tweets demanding the caucus results in Iowa be nullified due to what he claimed was voter fraud perpetrated by the Cruz campaign. In particular, Trump singled out reports that the Cruz campaign told voters during the caucus Dr. Ben Carson had...

Nobody likes a sore loser, and by adopting that role on Wednesday morning in charging that Sen. Ted Cruz "stole" Iowa, Donald Trump has effectively imploded his campaign. Yes, I know. Pundits have been saying for months that one Trump comment or another would sink him, only to be proven wrong. But here's why this is different. Every other time Trump said something controversial, or insulted an opponent, he was doing so from a position of strength. He looked like the alpha male toying with his pathetic oppnents. His whole brand is based on the idea that he's a "winner"...

A super PAC supporting Ted Cruz is airing a new TV ad in Iowa that goes for the policy jugular against Donald Trump, equating his past statements on universal health care to positions held by President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The ad, created by Keep the Promise I and shared first with NRO, warns of yet another big-government health care program: "TrumpCare." "First there was HillaryCare. … Then there was ObamaCare," the narrator says, knitting together video footage of both Democrats arguing for "universal health care." Then a still-shot of Trump appears, and the narrator intones: "We can't afford...

Obama: +2.0 Obama 46.5% | Romney 44.5% Obama’s lead over Romney eroded further in a polling taken the day of the final debate. Romney strengthened among males, going from a 1-point deficit two days ago to a 4-point lead. Likewise, Romney has gained 6 points among those described as “working class.” Romney also appears to have regained momentum among Catholic voters, among whom he was trailing three days ago, but has opened up an 8-point lead.

President Obama and Mitt Romney head into the final debate still deadlocked among likely voters nationally: 49 percent side with the Democratic president, 48 percent with the Republican challenger, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — Mitt Romney’s first debate bounce has evaporated and President Obama once again has taken a slim lead in The Washington Times/Zogby Poll released Sunday night — though the survey showed Mr. Romney’s backers are far more energized about him than the president’s backers are about their candidate. Mr. Obama leads 49.7 percent to 47.3 percent over Mr. Romney, the Republican nominee, with 3 percent undecided.

Republican challenger Mitt Romney has pulled ahead of President Barack Obama in the race for the White House for the first time in more than a month and leads 45 percent to 44 percent among likely voters, according to a Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll released on Wednesday.

Two police reports written the night that George Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin said that Zimmerman had a bloody face and nose, according to police reports made public today. The reports also note that two witness accounts appear to back up Zimmerman's version of what happened when they describe a man on his back with another person wearing a hoodie straddling him and throwing punches. In addition, Trayvon Martin's father told an investigator after listening to 911 tapes that captured a man's voice frantically callling for help that it was not his son calling for help. The new information is part...

As of now, the 2012 Republican Presidential Primary race is all about Texas Governor Rick Perry and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, with no other candidate reaching double-digit support. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely GOP Primary voters shows Perry with 28% support and Romney capturing 24%. Before Perry entered his first debate, the Texan held an eleven point advantage over Romney, 29% to 18%.

Link only to RCP - cannot link to USA Today. This poll was conducted after the last debate. Last poll by USA Today/Gallup in early August (before Perry announced) showed Romney 24, Perry 17, Bachmann 13. A Gallup-only pull in mid-August, after Perry announced, showed Perry 29, Romney 17 and Bachmann 10. So it looks like Perry has continued to gain support, but Romney is also picking up support since late August, which has narrowed the gap. The RCP average shows the Perry lead down to 8.6%, which is a drop of about 3 points. So it does appear that...

Aided by strong tea party support, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has surged in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, pushing former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney into second place and significantly diminishing the once-rising star of Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.), according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.