Donovan Slack

USA TODAY

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s popularity among Republicans has plummeted in recent months and now more of them have negative views of him than positive ones, according to Gallup data released Monday.

The proportion of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who view Cruz favorably has dropped to 39% — down from 61% in January — and the share who view him unfavorably has skyrocketed, going from 15% in January to 45% now.

“Republicans' views of Cruz are now the worst in Gallup's history of tracking the Texas senator,” Gallup Editor Frank Newport said.

The data comes as Cruz has made several moves to try to shore up support for his campaign and stop Donald Trump from winning enough delegates to clinch the Republican presidential nomination. He and Ohio Gov. John Kasich had tried to make a deal so Cruz could take on Trump one-on-one in Tuesday’s Indiana primary. That appears to have fallen apart.

He named Carly Fiorina as his running mate last week, even though he hasn’t clinched the nomination and it is mathematically impossible for him to do so on the first ballot at the Republican National Convention.

Cruz said this week that he nevertheless intends to go the distance, "as long as we have a viable path to victory."

Here’s what’s happened to his popularity ratings in the Gallup polling:

View Cruz favorably

Jan: 61%

Feb.: 55%

March: 48%

April: 50%

Most recent: 39%

View Cruz unfavorably

Jan.: 15%

Feb: 23%

March: 40%

April: 35%

Most recent: 45%

“After a holding period of sorts in March and early April, Cruz's image began to deteriorate significantly in the last two weeks, with his positive and negative lines crossing in the middle of last week,” Newport said.

At the same time, Trump’s popularity among Republicans surged in recent weeks, with the amount who view him favorably growing from 53% to 59% and the share who view him negatively shrinking from 41% to 35%.

Of course, both still have popularity problems with the general electorate — 29% more people have a negative view of Trump than a positive one and 25% more view Cruz negatively than positively.

What to watch for in the Indiana primary

Trump trouncing in Calif. by 34 points: Poll