The Morning Consult survey polled 504 registered voters who said they watched the Republican primary debate and that they plan to participate in their state’s Republican presidential nominating contest. Of those voters, 69 percent identified themselves as Republicans, and 28 percent called themselves independents. The poll carried a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percent (link):

The four consecutive days of attacks on Donald Trump, leading up to the CNN debate, appear to have hurt Rand Paul, Scott Walker significantly; both appear to be in trouble. Also, worth noting – candidates Pataki, Graham and Jindal see no benefit from their attack efforts. Fiorina, Rubio, and Christie gained supporters. Carson, Bush and Kasich stayed essentially the same.

If these results are retained in the next round of national and state polls it would not be surprising to see changes within Scott Walker and Rand Paul’s campaign teams.

Candidate Carly Fiorina is in the spotlight now. Unfortunately her background does not bode well for intense sunlight. It should be anticipated that Fiorina’s historical associations, business failures and political failures will come to the forefront amid scrutiny; as well as her “party insider” status which she has worked earnestly to hide.

Time will tell….

In the interim the GOPe goals do not change. Keep Bush in the race, keep Wall Street backers from getting twitchy, and destroy Donald Trump.

The direction of three political careers are on the line with Trump in the race: Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Jeb Bush. There is a common interest within the RNC, DNC, Clinton and Bush camps to remove Trump.

The sheer scope of the political forces aligned in common purpose is historic.