Following Campaign Launch, Ted Cruz Moves Into Third Place

No doubt any candidate receives at least some bump when they have a major positive campaign story focused on them for days. As for Ted Cruz, his bump has arrived and is enough to land him in third place behind Scott Walker and Jeb Bush. The pollster says he’s officially arrived at the top tier but I don’t think you can make that judgment on one poll.

The latest Public Polic Polling (PPP) poll shows Cruz having jumped 11 percent since last time:

20% – Scott Walker
17% – Jeb Bush
16% – Ted Cruz
10% – Ben Carson, Rand Paul
6% – Marco Rubio, Mike Huckabee

Report from PPP:

PPP’s newest Republican national poll finds that Ted Cruz has the big momentum following the official announcement of his candidacy last week. His support has increased from 5% to 16% in just over a month, enough to make him one of three candidates in the top tier of GOP contenders, along with Scott Walker and Jeb Bush.

Walker continues to lead the field with 20%, although that’s down from his 25% standing a month ago. Bush continues to poll at 17%, followed by Cruz at 16%, Ben Carson and Rand Paul at 10%, Marco Rubio and Mike Huckabee at 6%, Chris Christie at 4%, and Rick Perry at 3%.

Cruz has really caught fire with voters identifying themselves as ‘very conservative’ since his announcement. After polling at only 11% with them a month ago, he now leads the GOP field with 33% to 25% for Walker and 12% for Carson with no one else in double digits. Last month Walker led with that group and almost all of the decline in his overall support over the last month has come within it as those folks have moved toward Cruz. Cruz’s name recognition with Republican voters has increased from 61% to 82% since his announcement. Besides Cruz the other candidate with momentum over the last month is Rand Paul. His support has increased from 4% to 10%.

The question will be how much of a bump Paul and Rubio get after they announce in the next couple weeks. Furthermore, can Cruz maintain this support? He seems to have pulled some support from Walker and perhaps from Paul and Carson. That is a pretty good intersection of where Cruz sits ideologically in the field.