Trump, Cruz in Attack Mode; Rubio Scores a Big Win

Heather Sells
02-18-2016

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A fiery debate is raging this week in South Carolina between the top three Republican candidates as they ramp up for Saturday's primary.      

"I do attack people when I'm attacked," Trump said.

Billionaire Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz are sparring over an abortion ad. Trump says the ad, which shows an interview from 1999, is filled with lies and he's threatened to sue Cruz.

Cruz said fine, go ahead - and dared Trump to do so. He also promised to run the ad more frequently.

"I laughed out loud," Cruz said of the business mogul's threat. "No one is surprised that Donald is threatening to sue people."

Meanwhile, Marco Rubio scored a big win on Wednesday, receiving the coveted endorsement of South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. Earlier in the week, Jeb Bush called it the most meaningful endorsement.

"In my campaign today I got the endorsement....all three are doing that here in South Carolina," Rubio said.

But polls right now show Trump with the endorsement that counts the most: the voters in the Palmetto State.

In the new Bloomberg poll, Trump is the first choice with 34 percent of likely Republican voters in South Carolina, followed by Cruz at 16 percent and Rubio at 13.

But things look different in the bigger picture across the country.

The latest NBC Wall Street Journal poll shows Cruz leading Trump nationally. The Texas lawmaker is up by 28 percent compared to Trump at 26 percent and Rubio with 17 percent.

Cruz's lead is within the margin of error, so the race is statistically a tie. But it still could be an indication that Cruz has momentum across the country.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are gearing up for the Nevada caucus on Saturday.

Sanders is working to raise his support among blacks and Hispanics. Clinton is also courting minorities in an effort to offset Sander's popularity with younger voters.

In both South Carolina and Nevada, many voters may decide at the last minute and as always -- they will have the final say.

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About The Author

Heather
Sells

Heather Sells covers wide-ranging stories for CBN News that include religious liberty, ministry trends, immigration, and education. She’s known for telling personal stories that capture the issues of the day, from the border sheriff who rescues migrants in the desert to the parents struggling with a child that identifies as transgender. In the last year, she has reported on immigration at the Texas border, from Washington, D.C., in advance of the Dobbs abortion case, at crisis pregnancy centers in Massachusetts, and on sexual abuse reform at the annual Southern Baptist meeting in Anaheim
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