Cruz leads Trump in Iowa 19 days ahead of the caucuses

Ted Cruz is holding onto his narrow lead over Donald Trump as the finish line in Iowa closes in. Just 19 days ahead of the state's caucuses, a new Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics Iowa Poll released Tuesday shows the Texas senator 3 percentage points ahead of Trump, with 25 percent to Trump's 22 percent.

While Cruz's polling numbers in Iowa have plummeted 6 points over the last month — he once had 10-point lead on Trump — 76 percent of voters still view him favorably. Trump, who climbed 1 percentage point in the latest poll, has an advantage in that his Iowa supporters are more committed to actually voting for him than any other candidate's supporters are.

The rest of the field lags far behind the neck-and-neck frontrunners. Third-place Marco Rubio has 12 percent, Ben Carson has 11 percent, Rand Paul has 5 percent, Jeb Bush has 4 percent. The rest have 3 percent or less.

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The poll, conducted between Jan. 1-10, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.