Poll: Ted Cruz gets bump from presidential announcement

Catalina Camia | USA TODAY

If you need evidence there was value to Ted Cruz becoming the first presidential candidate in the 2016 race, here's some from a new CBS News poll.

The Texas senator indeed got a bump from his announcement last week, with 37% of Republicans now saying they would consider voting for Cruz for the GOP presidential nomination. That's up from 23% in a CBS News survey taken in February, for the biggest leap for any Republican eyeing the White House.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who is slated to jump into the race April 7, gained 9 percentage points in the past month for the second-biggest jump in the CBS News poll released Sunday. Now, 39% of Republicans say they would consider voting for Paul compared with 30% who said the same in February.

Jeb Bush is still the top choice for Republicans, with 51% in the CBS News poll saying they would consider voting for the former Florida governor.

The survey of 510 Republicans was taken March 21-24 and has an error margin of +/- 6 percentage points. Cruz declared his presidential candidacy shortly after midnight March 23 and made a formal announcement with a speech later that morning at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.