U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz has surged ahead of Donald Trump in late-voting California, buoyed by hard-core conservatives and evangelical voters, according to a new Field Poll.
While Cruz's lead is small – 25 percent to 23 percent – more than a quarter of likely Republican voters polled (28 percent) said they would be "upset" if Trump won the Republican nomination, said the
San Francisco Chronicle.
Trump "doesn't have much room for growth" in California and may have topped out in the state, said the Field Poll's director, Mark DiCamillo.
The Field Poll's 5.6-percentage-point margin of error suggests Cruz and Trump are in a statistical tie, but three months ago Cruz trailed Trump by 11 points, noted
The Bay Area News Group. The poll included 325 likely GOP voters conducted Dec. 16 through Sunday.
The results were:
Ted Cruz, 25 (up from 6 in October)
Donald Trump, 23 (up from 17)
Marco Rubio, 13 (up from 10)
Ben Carson, 9 (down from 15)
Rand Paul, 6 (up from 5)
Jeb Bush, 4 (down from 8)
Chris Christie, 3 (up from 2)
Carly Fiorina, 3 (down from 13)
John Kasich, 1 (down from 2)
The poll showed only 51 percent of Republicans have a favorable opinion of Trump, while 69 percent view Cruz favorably. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio had a 61 percent favorability rating, followed by a 60 percent for neurosurgeon Ben Carson and 52 percent for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
"Typically, it's much more difficult to change people's minds if they already are opposed to you," said DiCamillo.
"Cruz is probably the chief beneficiary of the declines of two other candidates who were doing much better in our last poll, in October: Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina," said DiCamillo. "And he's positioning himself very adroitly to benefit from the departure of other candidates."
Carson's California GOP support has fallen from 15 percent in October to nine percent in the current Field Poll, while Fiorina tumbled from 13 percent in October to three percent. Former California Gov. Jeb Bush also fell from eight percent to four percent over the same period.
The poll showed Cruz would be second choice for 22 percent of GOP voters and Rubio would be the second choice for 11 percent. Trump also would be the second choice for 11 percent of California Republican voters.
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