Ted Cruz is the sleeping giant in the Republican race

Donald Trump continues to dominate the Republican presidential race — in both polling and media attention. But in a new Quinnipiac University national poll on the 2016 field, it's Ted Cruz who looks like the candidate you may want to bet on.

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Here's why. In the ballot test, Cruz has 16 percent support — and is in a statistical tie for second place with Ben Carson and Marco Rubio. Carson is very much headed in the wrong direction; he was at 23 percent in a Q poll conducted a month ago and is down seven points. Rubio is moving in the right direction (up three points from last month, to 17 percent), as is Cruz (up three points). And, Cruz's trend line is quite clear and quite good. He was at 5 percent in a Q poll in late July, 7 percent in a September poll and 16 now. Trend lines matter more than anything else in national primary polling, and no one this side of Rubio has a better trend line than Cruz. More...

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