Trump Makes Nice With Fox News' Kelly On Day New Poll Shows Some Vulnerabilities
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Donald Trump continues to top the leaderboard in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, but a new poll shows some weak spots.
The new poll is of those who will vote in Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucus and it shows that Trump's debate performance shook some people up, CBS2's Marcia Kramer reported Tuesday.
Also worrisome is the fact that voters say their most memorable Trump moment was him saying he might run as an independent – not what he said about women and Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly.
Nevertheless, Trump repeated the threat on Tuesday on CNN.
"I want to keep that door open. I have to keep that door open, because if something happens where I'm not treated fairly, I very well may use that door," Trump said.
Trump made the threat to run as an independent, even though when he said it during the first debate he was booed.
It was a busy day for the shoot-from-the lip Republican presidential wannabe. He was on CNN; he was on Fox News to make nice after his flap with the network's Kelly in the wake of her tough questioning about Trump's view of women.
Despite the debate controversies, Trump continues to lead the pack of 17 Republicans in Iowa -- the first caucus on the road to the White House that can be so important in weeding out the also-rans.
Boston's Suffolk University Iowa poll has Trump with 17 percent, followed by:
* Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker at 12
* Florida Sen. Marco Rubio at 10
* Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 9
* Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and businesswoman Carly Fiorina at 7
According to the poll, 20 percent remain undecided, which suggests to pollsters that if the field becomes smaller -- just Tuesday cash-strapped former Texas governor Rick Perry had to stop paying his staff -- Trump might have problems holding on to the top spot.
There is also the problem that Iowans didn't love Trump's debate performance.
* 55 percent said that after watching Trump they felt less comfortable with him
* 23 percent felt more comfortable
* 18 percent said it made no difference
Meanwhile, former Florida governor Jeb Bush is trying to make a comeback after seeing his support fall following the debate. He was expected to lambast Democrat Hillary Clinton during a speech on terrorism on Tuesday night. He was to argue that the former secretary of state bears some of the responsibility for mistakes that led to the rise of ISIS, Kramer reported.
We're still a long way from the Iowa caucus on Feb. 1, and a lot can happen. At this point back in 2008 Rudy Giuliani and Clinton looked like shoe-ins for their party's nominations, but things changed and Barack Obama ended up running against John McCain.
