Ted Cruz Closes in on Donald Trump for Republican Presidential Lead

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is closing in fast on the lead that Donald Trump has held for months in the race for the Republican Presidential nomination.

A Quinnipiac University poll of voters nationwide released Tuesday finds that while Trump leads the GOP field with 28% support, Cruz is hot on his heels at 24% support GOP voters.

Despite Trump’s signature penchant for controversy that has often left him a target for criticism, the rest of the field—other than Cruz—remains well behind the real estate magnate. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is polling at 12% and Ben Carson’s numbers, which once challenged Trump, are back down to 10%. Other candidates have failed to register higher than New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s 6% poll results, including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush who enjoys just 4% support according to Quinnipiac .

But while Trump dominates most of the GOP field, he faces a more uphill battle against the opposing party. In a head-to-head with Democrats, Trump would lose to either leading candidate, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton, the poll shows. Among Democrats, Clinton edges out Sanders 61-30 percent, with former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley holding onto 2% support.

There’s another number which also reads badly for Trump—50% of American voters say that they would be embarrassed to have the billionaire as president.

“Half of American voters say they’d be embarrassed to have Donald Trump as their Commander in Chief and most Americans think he doesn’t have a good chance in November, but there he is still at the top of the Republican heap,” Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, said in a statement. “Hillary Clinton tops him. Sen. Bernie Sanders hammers him and Sen. Ted Cruz is snapping at his heels. Can a candidate that half the American electorate thinks is an embarrassment win in November?”

Only 23 percent of voters responded that they would be proud to have Trump as president, compared to the 50% who would be ashamed. When asked about Democratic front-runner Clinton, 33% of voters said that they would be proud, 35% ashamed and 29% said that neither sentiment would apply.

The Quinnipiac University poll was conducted December 16-20 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.