Poll: Cruz Leading Trump Ahead Of GOP Debate
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- The numbers aren't in Donald Trump's favor this time.
On the eve of the last GOP debate in 2015, a new poll shows Republican presidential rival Ted Cruz leading Donald Trump in Iowa.
"My whole life has been about winning. I'm going to win," said Trump.
A determined Trump wasted no time pouncing on Cruz.
"When you look at the way he's dealt with the Senate, where he goes in there like a you know, frankly, like a bit of a maniac," said Trump.
A Des Moines Register/Bloomberg poll shows Cruz with a ten point lead in Iowa.
Cruz has been reluctant to criticize Trump. He'd like to win over Trump's supporters; however, the Texas senator did post a lighthearted comment on Twitter - with a link to the 1980's song, "Maniac."
Republican strategists said Cruz could be just as polarizing to the electorate as Trump.
"We need more female voters, more Hispanics...And instead of learning those lessons, you have candidates like Cruz and Trump who are doing the exact opposite," said GOP strategist Brian Walsh.
As for the Democrats, another new poll shows Democratic frontrunner Hillary Rodham Clinton would defeat Trump or Cruz in the general election but she would narrowly lose to Marco Rubio or Ben Carson.
Nine GOP candidates face off Tuesday evening in Las Vegas for another primetime debate.
Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum and Senator Lindsey Graham did not make it into the main debate. They'll appear earlier in the evening.
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