Poll: Trump edges ahead of Cruz in Iowa

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump narrowly edges out Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) for the lead in Iowa, a new poll released Tuesday finds. 

The Public Policy Polling (PPP) survey shows the real estate mogul leads Cruz, 28 to 25 percent, within the margin of error. But while Trump leads, Cruz has been building the most momentum, gaining 11 points since the organization’s November poll. Trump picked up 6 points since the last poll.

“Ted Cruz’s momentum in Iowa is getting all the attention,” Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling, said in a news release. “But Donald Trump is on the up swing there as well.” 

{mosads}Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is in a distant third place, with 14 percent, followed by retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, with 10 percent, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush with 7 percent. 

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee all hit 3 percent. Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) both received 2 percent, while Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Penn.) both register at 1 percent. 

The poll, which was conducted after Trump’s proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States, found that 78 percent of voters support his ban, while 13 percent oppose it.

Recent Iowa polls have found Trump and Cruz neck and neck. Last week, a Monmouth University poll found Cruz leading Trump while a new Quinnipiac University poll on Monday showed Trump narrowly ahead of Cruz. 

A RealClearPolitics average of Iowa GOP polls shows Cruz leading Trump by 1 percentage point.

The poll was conducted from Dec. 10 to Dec. 13 and surveyed 522 usual GOP primary voters via phone and Internet. The margin of error was 4.3 percentage points.