WASHINGTON — Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has surged over the last month in Iowa and is nearly even with front-runner Donald Trump, according to the latest poll to rattle the nation’s first caucus state.
Cruz hit 23 percent in a Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday, just two points behind Trump and within the poll’s margin of error.
In the same poll last month, Cruz was at 10 percent.
Ben Carson, who was at 28 percent in late October, dropped to 18 percent following a period in which he flubbed foreign policy questions and had elements of his biography come under media scrutiny.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was at 13 percent
None of the other GOP contenders broke double digits.
Iowa’s caucuses will be held Feb. 1, little more than two months away.
“Last month, we said it was Dr. Ben Carson’s turn in the spotlight. Today, the spotlight turns to Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. The Iowa Republican Caucus has become a two-tiered contest: Businessman Donald Trump and neurosurgeon Ben Carson lead on the outsider track, and Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio lead among party insiders,” said pollster Peter Brown.
Brown said other candidates would need “miraculous comebacks” to crack the top tier.
Carson still has the highest favorability rating, 79 percent, followed by Cruz at 73 percent.
Trump leads on battling terrorism, with 30 percent, compared to 20 percent for Cruz, 10 percent for Rubio and 7 percent for Jeb Bush.
The poll also found that GOP caucus-goers oppose allowing Syrian refugees into the country, 81 to 15 percent, and support sending ground troops to battle ISIS, 83 percent to 9 percent.