Call it the Cruz Curse, but since Donald Trump lost to the cheating efforts of Ted Cruz in Iowa earlier this week, Trump’s national numbers have been on a steady decline. The first national polling since his Iowa lost shows Trump’s fall from grace, coming in with just 25%. He still leads the pack of Republicans, but not by the HUGE numbers he once had.
Trump remained in first place in the survey, which was conducted by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling and was set to be released later Thursday. He received 25% of the vote from Republican-primary voters nationally. Cruz and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida tied for second at 21% apiece.
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson grabbed 11%. None of the remaining Republican candidates received more than 5% of the vote.
It was a stark contrast from the national survey that Public Policy Polling released in mid-December. That poll found Trump, at 34%, maintaining a large national lead over both Cruz (18%) and Rubio (13%). Rubio seemed to benefit at Trump’s expense with astronger-than-expected showing in the Iowa caucuses, in which he nearly caught up to Trump. His poll standing was up 8 points from December.
