Political experts in a weekly ranking of candidates from the Republican Party in a national newspaper have been seeing a gradual rise in popularity of Senator Ted Cruz from Texas.
Last week he was in sixth place and this week has been moved to fourth. Many see the Texas senator as showing signs of having a long stay in the race once the primary season starts to heat up.
The ascent by Cruz seems to come at the expense of former CEO at Hewlett-Packard Carly Fiorina, who was at the top of the survey in September following a strong showing in the GOP debates, but has since dropped to fifth place.
One of the few metrics that are tangible in politics are fundraising numbers that are released quarterly. The numbers for the third quarter show that Ted Cruz and Ben Carson will be around for the long haul.
Carson already is one of the top tier candidates, while Cruz has started to show signs, he deserves a place there as well.
Marco Rubio the Senator from Florida is also close to becoming one of the top tier candidates. He is still lacking much needed fundraising but experts see that increasing as time goes on.
Rubio and Cruz might be positioned best to consolidate support as the GOP field starts to narrow, said another political consultant.
Fiorina might have hit the wall, as it does not look as if she can take advantage of the recent rise she enjoyed following the two debates. It seems she is stuck and cannot figure a way to turn her popularity into real momentum for her campaign, said a strategist in Florida.
Trump looks to be regaining part of the grip he had on the number one spot after dropping down to third for a week.
