The highly-respected Des Moines Register poll has great news for Ted Cruz: he’s gained 21 points of support over the past couple of months. Ben Carson has cratered, and everyone else is treading water.
The usual thing at this point is to say that we still have six weeks until the caucuses are held, and anything could happen. And sure enough, only 43 percent of Cruz supporters say their minds are made up. The rest say they could still be persuaded to vote for someone else. What’s more, if you figure that most people vastly underestimate their own ability to be swayed by advertising, Cruz’s actual level of firm support is probably no more than a third or so. For the moment, this is a pretty tenuous lead.
Still, it’s always better to be ahead than behind. Unless that just makes you a target, of course. And Donald Trump apparently still enjoys a commanding lead nationally. Stay tuned for a fun January.
