Republican presidential candidates called for the refusal of Syrian refugees looking for asylum in the United States following the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris.
Most opposed President Obama's plan to allow the thousands of immigrants into the country on grounds that ISIS supporters might carry out a Paris-like attack on U.S. soil. While GOP front-runners Donald Trump and Ben Carson have put economic issues aside in favor of strategizing how to lower risks they believe Muslims pose, two candidates many wrote-off during the summer have emerged, and it's starting to show in national polls.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio have gained steam in recent Republican primary polls taken among Iowa and New Hampshire caucusgoers, respectively.
Cruz tops a CBS News/YouGov poll released Monday and ties Trump in a Quinnipiac poll released today. Rubio, coming off solid GOP primary debates in Colorado and Wisconsin, has gained support from 11 percent of New Hampshire residents, according to a Suffolk University poll. It's a 6.8 percent increase from the same poll taken on June 23.
Potential GOP voters across each poll still believe Trump would make the best commander-in-chief, though most in favor say they don't have college degrees and tend to carry staunch Christian principles. Republican lawmakers' confidence in Trump is waning, and Cruz and Rubio have jumped on his inexperience to lay out less-incendiary ideals they hope moderates and conservatives can get behind, specifically in national security and immigration.
Rubio released his first television ad on Sunday, pinning the battle against terrorist as "us or them." It ends with the Cuban-American senator summarizing his beliefs on national security. "I approve this message because there can be no arrangement or negotiation. Either they win or we do," he said.
Cruz introduced a bill that would ban all Middle Eastern Muslim refugees, but it was blocked by Democrats. He has repeatedly criticized the president's handling of Syria while outlining how he would do things differently.
"It is the height of lunacy for a government official to welcome in tens of thousands of refugees when we know that among them will be ISIS terrorists," Cruz said at a press conference last week. In the same meeting, Cruz scolded Rubio for his record on immigration and his effort to pass a 2013 bipartisan bill which gave undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship.
"I think the campaign has discovered that his positions on amnesty are bad politics and they don't want to talk about it, so they're trying to change the subject," Cruz said. "I understand why they're doing that. That makes perfect sense. But I don't think it's going to work."
Cruz's quip was the latest in a string of sly comments between the 44-year-old White House hopefuls; a duo some Republican strategists prefer over Trump and Carson, if only for their political acumen.
Both Rubio and Cruz say comprehensive immigration reform shouldn't be considered until the U.S.-Mexico border is secure, with Cruz calling for a halt on all immigration - legal or not - until unemployment decreases.
Rubio has flip-flopped on issues of amnesty, and Cruz took advantage last week. In the same vein, Rubio used Cruz's history on foreign policy to highlight how the Texas senator hindered national security by supporting the USA Freedom Act, which was designed to end NSA metadata collection.
"At least two of my colleagues in the Senate aspiring to be president, Sen. Cruz in particular, have voted to weaken the U.S. intelligence program," Rubio said at a Nov. 16 Wall Street Journal event. "Weakening our intelligence-gathering capabilities leaves America vulnerable."
Rubio is referring to legislation that came about following 9/11. He contends that the bipartisan bill overriding NSA efforts can lead to a terrorist attack "in a major American city at any moment, at any time."
Their feud doesn't generate the attention Trump gets when he verbally spars with anyone who questions his rhetoric, but, as far the as the Republican Party is concerned, Rubio and Cruz's feud has substance.
They are fighting over issues that will decide the GOP presidential nominee; one who is like to debate Hillary Clinton, the election season's leading fundraiser.
With efforts underway to undermine Trump, and both Cruz and Rubio climbing in Republican-based polls, all GOP voters can do is wait for the dust to settle.