A new Winthrop University poll in South Carolina finds Donald Trump leading with 24%, followed by Ted Cruz at 16%, Ben Carson at 14%, Marco Rubio at 11% and Jeb Bush at 9%.
Trump Hits New High in National Poll
A new New York Times/CBS News poll finds Donald Trump leading the GOP presidential field with 35%, followed by Ted Cruz at 16%, Ben Carson at 13% and Marco Rubio at 9%. The rest of the field was at 4% or less.
The poll was taken largely before his statement on Monday afternoon proposing to temporarily bar Muslims from entering the United States.
Trump Backers Try to Oust New Hampshire GOP Chair
Bloomberg: “Trump’s state co-chairman Steve Stepanek is helping to petition signatures from the state party’s executive committee to force a meeting and a vote to remove New Hampshire GOP chair Jennifer Horn form office. Stepanek argues that Horn’s criticism of Trump breaks with state party by-laws requiring her to remain ‘strictly neutral’ in the primary process.”
Cruz Positioned to Win Iowa
“Ted Cruz, the no-compromise conservative purist, is on the verge of securing the Christian conservative bloc, a linchpin that could secure victory in the 2016 Iowa caucuses,” GOP insiders tell the Des Moines Register reports.
“The question is whether Cruz can siphon enough tea party voters from front-runner Donald Trump to vault Cruz into the No. 1 slot when votes are counted less than two months from now, they say.”
Also interesting: “The campaign last week opened ‘Camp Cruz’ in some of the apartment buildings near a soon-to-close business college in Des Moines. The 48 dorm-style rooms will house supporters from outside of Iowa (mainly from Texas) who have been moved to come to the state to organize for him.”
Palin Backs Trump’s Call to Ban Muslims
Sarah Palin wrote on Facebook that she supports Donald Trump’s call for a ban on admitting Muslims into the United States.
Said Palin: “A broken system allowed terrorists to come to our home and slaughter Americans. A bold, non-politician candidate calls for a pause in this flaw bureaucratic program so it can be fixed, to make sure it doesn’t happen again. That’s common sense, which is why the media and spineless pundits attack it.”
Polls May Be Underestimating Trump’s Support
National Journal: “It turns out that a nontrivial share of these same working-class, anti-immigrant voters won’t tell a live person who they support but will share their true feelings when their support is secret—like on Election Day. This is no surprise: Support for immigration and globalization are perhaps the only political sentiments that unite elites from both business and the academy, from right and left. Openly supporting an anti-immigration candidate can risk social opprobrium, ridicule, or worse. In other words, for every group of vocal Trump supporters, there are probably a lot more who just don’t advertise it.”
Bush Taps Alumni Network for Early State Push
Politico: “Starting next month, Bush’s campaign will deploy hundreds of his brother and father’s former White House aides to early primary states to assist in canvassing and get-out-the-vote efforts. The plan, which has been hashed out in private emails and phone calls for months, is taking on new urgency as the primary season grows closer.”
Trump Widens Lead in South Carolina After Remarks
A new Fox News poll in South Carolina finds Donald Trump leads the GOP presidential primary field with 35%, followed by Ben Carson at 15%, Ted Cruz at 14%, Marco Rubio at 14% and Jeb Bush at 5%.
Trump’s remarks about barring Muslims from entering the country may have helped him. Support for Trump increased eight points after his statement — from 30% the first two nights of the survey vs. 38% the last two nights.
Scalia Suggests Blacks Belong at ‘Slower’ Colleges
During oral arguments in a pivotal affirmative action case, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia suggested that African American students might belong at less rigorous schools than their white peers, Mother Jones reports.
Said Scalia: “There are those who contend that it does not benefit African Americans to get them into the University of Texas, where they do not do well, as opposed to having them go to a less-advanced school, a slower-track school where they do well.”
Trump Teases Independent Run Again
Donald Trump told CNN that it’s “highly unlikely” he’ll run as an independent but also noted that “the establishment is not exactly being very good to me.”
Trump said: “If they don’t treat me with a certain amount of decorum and respect, if they don’t treat me as the front-runner… if the playing field is not level, then certainly all options are open… I’ll know that over a period of a couple months. We’ll go through the primaries. We’ll see what happens, and I’ll make a determination.”
Flashback Quote of the Day
“One thing I’ve learned about the press is they’re always hungry for a good story, and the more sensational, the better. It’s in the nature of the job, and I understand that. The point is that if you are a little different, or a little outrageous, or if you do things that are bold or controversial, the press is going to write about you.
“I don’t mind controversy, and my deals tend to be somewhat ambitious. The result is that the press has always wanted to write about me.”
— Donald Trump, in his 1987 book The Art of the Deal.
Trump’s Lead Grows Nationally
A new St. Leo University poll finds that Donald Trump has expanded his lead nationally over his GOP presidential rivals to 29%, followed by Ben Carson at 14%, Marco Rubio at 11%, Jeb Bush at 11% and Ted Cruz at 9%.
A new Zogby poll finds Trump leading with 38%, followed by Carson at 13%, Rubio at 12%, Cruz at 8% and Bush at 7%.
Bush Super PAC Burning Through Money
“The super PAC supporting Jeb Bush is racing through its massive war chest much faster than money is coming in, spending close to $50 million in a record blitz that has so far failed to lift the former Florida governor’s sputtering presidential candidacy,” the Washington Post reports.
“The group, Right to Rise, has already gone through nearly half of the $103 million it brought in during the first half of the year, records show. It raised only about $13 million in the five months that followed, according to a person familiar with the figure.”
Cruz Has the Clearest Shot at the GOP Nomination
Washington Post: “Cruz is positioned as the most conservative candidate in the race. While Trump gets all of the attention for his over-the-top statements, Cruz has staked out a position on the far right on virtually every major hot button issue — from immigration to Obamacare to national security and the fight with ISIS. And, tonally, Cruz comes across as aggressively and unapologetically conservative — a less controversial and electable version of Trump.”
“Cruz’s $65 million raised is all the more impressive because, unlike Bush who raised the vast, vast majority of his money into his Right to Rise super PAC, Cruz has relatively even balance between candidate committee ($26.5 million) and super PACs ($38 million).”
“Cruz is emerging rapidly as the favorite in Iowa’s caucuses. The calendar beyond the Big 3 favors Cruz… On March 1 is what’s being referred to as the ‘SEC primary’; Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas will all vote on that first Tuesday in March.”
Most GOP Voters Favor Trump’s Proposal on Muslims
A new Bloomberg/Purple Strategies poll finds 65% of likely 2016 Republican primary voters favor Donald Trump’s call to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the U.S., while more than a third say it makes them more likely to vote for him.
Said pollster Doug Usher: “This indicates that, despite some conventional wisdom expressed in the last 48 hours, this is unlikely to hurt Trump at least in the primary campaign.”
Exchange of the Day
Donald Trump was interviewed by Barbara Walters on ABC News:
WALTERS: Are you a bigot?
TRUMP: Not at all. Probably the least of anybody you’ve ever met.
WALTERS: Because?
TRUMP: ‘Cause I’m not! I’m a person that has common sense, I’m a smart person, I know how to run things, I know how to make America great again.
Quote of the Day
“Cruz is like Trump, but at a toned-down level.”
— Iowa state Sen. Jake Chapman (R), quoted by Bloomberg, explaining his support of Sen. Ted Cruz for president.