Ted Cruz Surpasses Donald Trump For First Time in New Poll

Donald Trump's surprise success may have a shelf life after all, according to a new Iowa poll that puts Ted Cruz in a formidable lead.

The conservative Christian from Texas is now crushing the reality TV billionaire by 10 points in the state, according to The Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics Iowa Poll.

Cruz, a Tea Party darling known for being an agitator within the U.S. Senate, leaped to the head of the pack with a record-breaking 21-point gain since the previous poll.

Per the influential poll, 31 percent of Iowans who are likely to attend the Republican caucuses said they back Cruz.

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Support for Trump remained stagnant at 21 percent, according to the poll.

The poll of 2,635 randomly selected active Iowa voters was conducted Dec. 7-10.

While the Cruz campaign had not responded to the news early Sunday, Trump followed his form and issued a barrage of Twitter posts bashing Cruz and patting himself on the back Sunday morning.

Even before the poll results were released, Trump was lashing out at Cruz's Cuban background.

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"I do like Ted Cruz, but not a lot of evangelicals come out of Cuba," he told a town hall at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines. "Not a lot come out."

Trump also told attendees that Cruz's stance against subsidies for ethanol--subsidies that are widely popular in the agricultural Hawkeye State--were "anti-Iowa."

"With the ethanol, really, he's got to come a long way, 'cause right now he's for the oil," Trump said. "But I understand it, oil pays him a lot of money. He's got to be for oil, right?"

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