Today, the Right Scoop has the numbers, and for Ted Cruz, the numbers are very good. The Cruz campaign has released their internal analysis of pre- and post-GOP debate polling, and they show what most TRS readers probably already guessed: the establishment lost big, the insurgents carried the day.
The latest national polling confirms that Senator Cruz has made significant gains on the heels of his strong debate performance. The first Republican Presidential debate of the 2016 cycle made history with more than 24 million viewers and Senator Cruz’s strong answers to questions about his conservative philosophy, his faith, and foreign policy and leadership have given him a significant boost.
Donald Trump, Dr. Ben Carson, and Carly Fiorina round out the top four with Senator Ted Cruz the only debate winner who has held elected office. Here’s the breakdown:
The Fox News debate was the most watched campaign debate in history, and clearly this opportunity for Cruz to reach an audience that size paid off big (despite the fact that Fox didn’t give him nearly enough questions.) Look at the change after the debate.
The campaign also provided us with search analysis.
Further evidence of Senator Cruz’s debate success is that he is clearly the candidate who made the biggest impact on voters as evidenced by Google search volume during the debate. At his peak, there were 67% more searches for Cruz than the next most-searched candidate. This illustrates that voters did not feel that they had sufficient information about Cruz before the debate and that his performance caused them to want to know more about his positions and record.
This is the same trend we have seen growing in the party base for years, and growing intensely in the last few months. With Trump topping the debate and all the winners being non-establishment, the proof is in the results. Ted Cruz may be a sitting Senator, but he fits right in with the insurgency.
In a comment for The Right Scoop, Cruz campaign National Spokesman Rick Tyler tells us: “The sustained rise in the polls is indicative of what we’re seeing across the country. People want someone who will say what they’re going to do and then do it. They are tired of the campaign conservatives who only talk about being principled but then do something different once they’re in office.”
Like Dr. Carson and Donald Trump, he speaks his mind without hesitation, no matter what the MSM or D.C. republicans will think. Like Carly Fiorina, he is not intimidated by the media and doesn’t let them define the terms. It’s why he’s so popular with the grassroots. At the RedState Gathering just days after the debate, Cruz by far got the biggest crowd reaction. It was no contest. The audience was cheering and standing and applauding and shouting. It was amazing. That was Ted does. He inspires true conservatives deeply and convincingly.
This is why he was elected, and he has stayed true to those who elected him.
The campaign’s methodology:
The pre-debate polling average is based on the RealClearPolitics.com average of the last four national polls conducted before the debate. All were conducted on July 30-August 2nd. Polls included in the average were Fox News, Bloomberg, Monmouth University, and CBS News.
The NBC News poll was conducted August 7-8 by Survey Monkey. The sample included 1,591 Republicans and Republican-leaning voters who opted into the sample while completing a Survey Monkey poll.
The Fox News poll was conducted August 11-13 under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research and Shaw & Company Research. The poll was conducted by telephone with live interviewers among a random sample of n=381 self-identified Republicans.