Cruz promises to defend gun rights in NH campaign swing

Politics is no stranger to varying interpretations of the Constitution, but the question of Ted Cruz’s eligibility for president begs the question: Is this something Cruz will have to reconcile, or could this blow over the way questions of citizenship have for politicians?

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign stop in Windham, N.H., on Monday.

The polling organization also asked voters what was more important: a candidate who is conservative, or a candidate who can win the General Election. Cruz dismissed those doubts about his eligibility in the NH1 interview. “Cruz is qualified to run for president and to serve if elected”.

In New Hampshire, Trump holds the advantage at 30 percent followed by Marco Rubio with 14 percent, Chris Christie at 12 percent, Ted Cruz at 10 percent, and John Kasich and Jeb Bush tied at 9 percent each. But that has now started to change. Cruz has dropped six points from the last survey, when he was at 31 and Trump was at 21.

“It should make conservative voters in the primary think twice about their support for Trump“, Aguilar said. “I don’t respect the first impulse he always has.which is to take rights away from law-abiding citizens, it’s always his first impulse, it’s the impulse of Hillary Clinton as well”. “And I don’t think those relationships have ever been repaired”.

The rhetorical slap appears to be an effort to head off the possibility that Trump’s attacks on Cruz’s status as a “natural born citizen” could hurt Cruz with his own coalition. Republican strategists say Rubio’s path to the nomination would have to start with at least a third-place finish in Iowa presumably behind poll leaders Cruz and Trump, which would deliver him some momentum going into New Hampshire.

The senator could be in further trouble once more voters in Iowa understand his background: Asked about Cruz’s birthplace, the poll found that “36 percent of Cruz voters aren’t aware yet that he wasn’t born in the United States, and 24 percent of Cruz voters say someone born outside the country shouldn’t be allowed to be president”.

Cruz told reporters he expects his support in New Hampshire to keep growing.

It soon became clear to Trump that the Cruz citizenship hit was working. Or, as he says, somewhat grandiloquently, “I have never breathed a breath of air on this planet when I was not a US citizen”. Rubio tops Cruz and Trump on only the phrases “establishment candidate” and “typical politician”.

“More and more observers are saying this is coming down to a two-man race between Donald and me”, Cruz told Kelly.

“The Donald seems to be a little bit rattled”, Cruz said on “The Howie Carr Show” on Boston’s WRKO.

Respondents were also presented with a number of phrases about the three Republicans, some positive, some negative, based on attacks made by other candidates and supportive pitches made by the candidates’ campaigns and their allies.