Fellow candidate Donald Trump has made the issue of Ted Cruz's eligibility for the presidency one of his leading charges against him, repeatedly remarking in recent television interviews and campaign appearances that Cruz is already being sued in his home state over the constitutional issue. | AP Photo Poll: Two-thirds of GOP voters think Ted Cruz is a natural-born citizen

Roughly 2-in-3 Republican voters think Ted Cruz is a natural-born United States citizen, according to the results of the latest national Monmouth University poll released Wednesday, which finds Donald Trump out in front of the second-place Texas senator by 19 points. The other third are not as certain.

Trump has made the issue of Cruz’s eligibility for the presidency one of his leading charges against his rival, repeatedly remarking in recent television interviews and campaign appearances that Cruz is already being sued in his home state over the constitutional issue. While 65 percent of Republicans and voters who lean Republican say that they believe Cruz, who was born in Calgary, Canada, to a mother born in Delaware, would meet constitutional qualifications to be president, 24 percent said they did not know and 12 percent said that he is not a natural-born citizen.


Cruz pressed the issue during a contentious exchange in last week’s debate, remarking that the legal issue at hand is “quite straightforward.” He also turned the tables on Trump, remarking that “some of the more extreme” of the legal theories he had been floating “insist that you must not only be born on U.S. soil, but have two parents born on U.S. soil. Under that theory, not only would I be disqualified, Marco Rubio would be disqualified, Bobby Jindal would be disqualified and, interestingly enough, Donald J. Trump would be disqualified.”

Asked the same question of Trump, 91 percent said they believe the Manhattan businessman to be a natural-born citizen. Trump was, of course, born in Queens to a Scottish-born mother and an American father who was the son of German immigrants. Just 7 percent said they did not know, and 2 percent said Trump is not a natural-born citizen.

Among the Republican and Republican-leaning voters surveyed, Trump took 36 percent, down 5 percentage points from the same survey in December, while Cruz jumped 3 points, to 17 percent. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, at 11 percent, is the only other candidate to finish in double digits, followed by Ben Carson at 8 percent, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 5 percent, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 3 percent each. No other candidate earned above that mark, with 8 percent undecided.

In terms of net favorability, meanwhile, Cruz leads the way at plus-39 points (58 percent to 19 percent), followed by Rubio at plus-36 points (54 percent to 18 percent) and then Trump at plus-25 points (57 percent to 32 percent).

As for who they thought would have a better chance of defeating Hillary Clinton come Nov. 8, voters indicated in separate head-to-head matchups featuring Trump, against Cruz and Rubio that the businessman would prevail. In the case of Rubio vs. Cruz, however, voters were split, with 32 percent saying they had an equal chance at defeating Clinton, 31 percent breaking for Cruz and 23 percent for Rubio.

The poll was conducted via landlines and cellphones Jan. 15-18, surveying 385 registered voters who identified as Republican or as independents leaning toward the Republican Party. The margin of error for the GOP sample is plus or minus 5 percentage points.