I still have many doubts about Ted Cruz’s ability to win the Republican nomination. He has a lot of precedent working against him; as I wrote seven months ago, “Let’s Be Serious About Ted Cruz From The Start: He’s Too Extreme And Too Disliked To Win.” And Cruz has, if anything, become even more hated by his colleagues in Washington, which hurts him tremendously in the all important endorsement primary. He continues to make controversial statements on a range of issues that hurt his viability in a general election.

But I think it’s time to at least walk the headline back a bit.

Why?

1. Republican voters like Ted Cruz … a lot

Cruz isn’t getting a ton of support in horse-race polls. But he’s doing OK — particularly in a 15-candidate field. He is polling fourth in an average of the last three live-interview polls, at 8 percent. That’s higher than he was when he launched his bid, which is impressive given how much oxygen Donald Trump is taking up.

Read the article “Ted Cruz. Ted Cruz? Ted Cruz!” on fivethirtyeight.com.