CRUZ BOOMS: Texan now tops potential 2016 GOP field

Well, that didn’t take long.

Ted Cruz’s 21-hour “filibuster” has vaulted the Texan to the top of the heap nationally in the 2016 GOP presidential primary, according to Public Policy Polling.

Cruz captured a field-leading 20 percent of the vote in a poll of Republican primary voters taken Wednesday and Thursday, in the wake of his epic Senate floor speech.

“He’s made himself the face of a government shutdown over ObamaCare, and the Republican base supports that by a 64/20 margin,” reports PPP, a Democratic-aligned pollster.

The results and change from PPP’s July findings:

                                                       Now                        July

Ted Cruz                                     20%                         12%

Rand Paul                                   17%                          16%

Chris Christie                             14%                         13%

Jeb Bush                                      11%                          13%

Marco Rubio                              10%                         10%

Paul Ryan                                    10%                          13%

The good news for Cruz’s potential rivals is that this initially looks solely like a surge of support due to Cruz’s speech that commanded across-the-board media coverage this week.  None of the other contenders lost substantial support, meaning that Cruz’s number could potentially be short-lived once the apex of the ObamaCare debate subsides.

Unsurprising is how divided moderate Republicans and conservative Republicans are about Cruz.

He yields 34 percent of the “very conservative” vote and just 4 percent of the “moderate” vote, PPP finds.

Cruz also has the widest gender gap of all GOP contenders surveyed:  He grabs 24 percent of men, but just 16 percent of women.

Younger Republicans (ages 18 to 45) still prefer Paul over Cruz by four points.

Cruz’s rivals will undoubtedly privately argue that his lead is fleeting and will disappear once the shutdown circus passes.  But the unflappable Texan won’t be shedding the spotlight anytime soon.

His two-day trip to Iowa next month — when he’ll address the Ronald Reagan dinner in Des Moines and then go hunting with Rep. Steve King in the northwestern part of the state — will keep him in the headlines.

But the real measure of Cruz’s inroads with the party will come in a few months from now.  If he’s still in the 20s nationally in December, the GOP establishment will have real reason to worry.

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