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Slice And Dice

How Trump Carved Up Cruz's Support in Weeks Before Iowa Caucus

New data from the latest Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register Iowa Poll, and interviews with the candidates’ campaign managers, shed light on the clash that could decide the Monday's winner.
Donald Trump gestures to attendees after speaking during a campaign rally at Dubuque Regional Airport in Dubuque, Iowa, on Jan. 30, 2016.

Donald Trump gestures to attendees after speaking during a campaign rally at Dubuque Regional Airport in Dubuque, Iowa, on Jan. 30, 2016.

Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
Corrected

Over the last several weeks, the story of the Iowa caucuses has become the battle between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.

For months, the two outsiders appeared to have struck an alliance, as they beat back their opponents and rose to the top of the Republican field—only to turn on each other in early January and launch a succession of brutal attacks. Cruz’s 10-point lead over Trump in December’s Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register Iowa Poll has become a casualty of that battle: in the new Jan. 30 survey, Trump vaulted past Cruz and to take a 28 percent to 23 percent lead.