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As the latest poll shows the Republican presidential contest a neck-and-neck race between two men who have led the contest in recent weeks, a new name has risen to place third.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, now has 10 percent support in a Fox News poll released Tuesday. He had been in fifth place at 8 percent in the last Fox News poll after having been in third place at 10 percent in Fox’s August poll.
The most recent poll showed Donald Trump holding his lead with 24 percent support, while Ben Carson was right behind Trump at 23 percent. No other candidate placed in double digits.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., was in fourth at 9 percent. Jeb Bush placed fifth at 8 percent. Carly Fiorina, who received a bump in support after last month’s debate, was tied with former Ark. Gov. Mike Huckabee at 5 percent. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., had 3 percent support. Other candidates were at 1 percent or less.
Cruz last week said his actions have put distance between him and other members of the Republican pack.
“If you look to the records of all the Republican candidates there’s a big difference between my record and that of everyone else,” Cruz said. “If you ask, who has stood up to Washington? Who’s taken on not just Democrats, but taken on leaders in their own party? Republican leadership, whether was leading the fight to stop Obamacare? Whether it was leading the fight to stop executive amnesty?”
“You know at the last Republican debate in California, every Republican candidate stood up there and said, ‘we need to defund Planned Parenthood.’ But last week, when we had an epic drag down fight in Washington, not one of them showed up,” Cruz said.
h/t: TheBlaze
BCN editor’s note: This article first appeared at Western Journalism.