The most talked about name in politics over the last few weeks has been Republican Senator and Tea Party favorite, Ted Cruz of Texas.
With a possible government shutdown around the corner and the start of the "Obamacare" exchanges on October 1st, many Tea Party activists and Republican politicians are up in arms that the American people could find out that the Affordable Care Act might actually work after all. Following new reports detailing how the price of health insurance has declined due to the new health care reform, Sen. Cruz and other congressional Republicans are fighting to the end to attempt to prove their anti-Obamacare message.
Earlier this week, Cruz took to the Senate floor and held a filibuster that lasted over 20 hours, protesting the funding for the Affordable Care Act. Despite his best efforts, the Senate voted against Cruz's wishes, 100-0 to hear the House bill that funded the government. Even Cruz himself gave in and voted against what he protested for. Unlike the recent filibuster by Texas state Representative, Democrat Wendy Davis, Cruz often went completely off topic, reading parts of Dr. Seuss books and quoting Star Wars. Senior Republicans such as Sen. John McCain have been known to have it out with Cruz as the Republican party continues to split.
Despite internal backlash against the Senator from Texas, a new poll shows that Republican voters actually prefer Cruz over their other likely options. According to a new poll by Public Policy Polling, Sen. Cruz is the top choice to run for president in 2016. Though tight, Cruz landed in the lead with 20 percent support from those polled. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was listed in 2nd place with 17 percent, followed closely with 14 percent for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush garnered 11 percent of the vote while Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) each received 10 percent respectively.
With his outspoken tone and aggressive nature against President Obama and his healthcare reform, Cruz jumped from 8 percent support in July to the leader of the pack at the end of September. While the presidential election of 2016 is still over three years away, anyone in politics will tell you that it is never too early to start your campaign.
