Gazing into his crystal ball, left wing Congressman Joaquin Castro (D-TX) asserted Friday that Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) “can’t be president.”
Castro, whose twin brother Julian is the Democratic mayor of San Antonio and considered to have national political ambitions of his own, made his prediction in an interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, according to Politico. “What became clear this week is that he can’t be president,” Castro said. “And the reason is, nobody will follow him. Even people within his own party won’t follow him,” he concluded.
The most recent poll, however, tells exactly the opposite story. Rank and file Republicans are flocking to Cruz’s banner. A Public Policy Polling poll conducted September 25 and 26 shows that among likely Republican voters, Ted Cruz is now the leading candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, garnering the support of 20 percent of his party’s voters. That places him three percentage points ahead of second place Rand Paul, who received 17 percent.
This poll is especially significant because it was conducted during and after Senator Cruz’s 21-hour speech on the floor of the Senate making the case to defund Obamacare, and it was released by Public Policy Polling, a research firm that notably leans left.
Nonetheless, Castro continued to hit his talking points. “I think that he wanted to make a big splash and he certainly has,” he stated. “But he’s done something that I think is unusual, which is he’s made Washington worse, he’s made the polarization worse,” Castro concluded.
Castro’s repetition of the Democratic Party’s talking points attacking Cruz are the surest indication that the party faithful consider Senator Cruz to be the most dangerous challenger to their nominee for president in 2016.