Recent News

Insiders: Clinton and Cruz aren’t sure bets in Iowa

Hillary Clinton and Ted Cruz are poised to win the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses — but haven’t yet locked the state down. And Donald Trump has the edge among Republicans in the three other states that will vote next month, including a commanding advantage in New Hampshire.

Bush, Rubio Poised to Gain Critical S.C. Endorsement?

While the focus for the next month is likely to be almost exclusively on the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, a few news items this morning out of the Palmetto State suggest the third contest of the 2016 nomination process could be just as important as the first two.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who recently dropped out of the race, sits at the head of a well-regarded political machine, and his endorsement could provide a much-needed boost to anybody ... Read More >>

And when will there be three?

You can take the results of the robo poll conducted by the Democratic outfit PPP with a big grain of salt. Nevertheless, the underlying analysis is correct:

Trump actually ranks 8th out of the 12 candidates in New Hampshire in net favorability with only 49% of GOP voters seeing him favorably to 44% with a negative opinion.

USA TODAY GOP Power Rankings: Carson and Fiorina fading

2016 begins with some outsider candidates finding themselves out of the picture in USA TODAY’s weekly GOP Power Rankings.

Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina tallied their worst scores this week since we started this survey Sept. 1, asking 30 political experts who is the strongest candidate in the GOP field.

With just a handful of weeks until the Iowa Caucuses, the race for the Republican presidential nomination is entering the home stretch.

Here’s a look at the 13 candidates remaining in the Republican field - and their path to victory … or defeat.

Donald Trump has 14-point lead in New Hampshire: poll

Billionaire businessman and GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump has a 14-point lead over his nearest Republican rival, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, in a new poll on the early state of New Hampshire.

Mr. Trump was at 29 percent in the survey from the Democratic-leaning firm Public Policy Polling, with Mr. Rubio at 15 percent.

The latest poll out of New Hampshire shows Donald Trump maintaining a big lead, sitting at 29 percent a full 14 to 19 percent over Rubio, Cruz, Bush, Kasich, and Christie.

But those are just the headline numbers of the poll. If you really want to understand the significance of a poll, you can’t merely consume the headline numbers. You have to read a poll, and parse it.