Was Ted Cruz a Big Winner or a Big Loser From the GOP Debate?

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We now have a second poll showing who gained and who lost from the first GOP debate. It’s from CNN/ORC, and its results are similar to yesterday’s Fox News poll with two significant exceptions.

First, Donald Trump gained significantly in the CNN poll instead of holding steady. However, this may be just an artifact of the date of the comparison poll: July 30 for Fox and July 22 for CNN. They both have Trump at about the same absolute level currently.

The other big difference is Ted Cruz. Fox had him up four points after the debate; CNN has him down two points. Since they both had him starting at 6 percent, that’s a pretty substantial difference. Aside from the normal statistical vagaries of polls like this, I can’t think of a reason for it.

Anyway, it’s still early days. This stuff is entertaining, but probably doesn’t mean a whole lot.

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