Don, Ted ‘polls’ apart

Big lead or squeaker

WASHINGTON — Rival polls were sharply divided Tuesday over the race for the GOP presidential nomination — one showing Donald Trump with a commanding lead, the other indicating a close contest.

A Reuters fiveday rolling poll showed Trump lapping the field with 36.7 percent support to Ben Carson’s 11.3, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s 11, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s 8.3 and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s 6.7.

Trump crowed about the results on Twitter Tuesday night, tweeting, “Wow, new Reuters Poll just out. Big lead if you want to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

But not all the news was good for Trump. A Quinnipiac University poll released earlier in the day found he was leading Cruz by only 4 points — within the margin of error.

The poll had Trump at 28 percent support, with Cruz at 24.

Cruz’s surge in the Quinnipiac poll — he’s up 8 points since Dec. 2 — came after a strong performance in last week’s Republican debate in Las Vegas, where 40 percent of voters said he “did the best job.”

Only 20 percent said Trump was the debate champ.

The two frontrunners have been chummy all year, but Trump predicted on Monday that it’s only a matter of time before they clash.

“It’s probably going to come down to me against him,” Trump told NBC. “Ultimately, I’m sure, the peace will end.”

The only other candidates in double digits in the Quinnipiac poll were Rubio, at 12 percent, and Carson, at 10.

But More than half of Republican voters in the poll — 58 percent — said they could be persuaded to back another candidate, meaning there might well be more shifts before the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 1.

Meanwhile, Republican officials said Tuesday that next month’s presidential debate would be limited to just the top six candidates.