A series of new polls released Sunday show Sen. Ted Cruz surging in key Tuesday battleground states, including Illinois, Ohio and Florida.

In Illinois, a new CBS Battleground Tracker poll has real estate mogul Donald Trump and Cruz now locked in a statistical dead heat, 38 to 34, for first place.

In the NBC/WSJ poll for Illinois, Trump leads with 34 percent, with Cruz close at 25 percent. Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Sen. Marco Rubio come in at 21 and 16 percent, respectively.

In Ohio, Cruz is now nipping at the heels of both Kasich and Trump for first place.

The new CBS poll has Trump and John Kasich tied at 33 percent, with Cruz now
at 27 percent.

A Fox News poll taken earlier in the week had Cruz at 19, suggesting conservatives in the Buckeye State are moving strongly behind Cruz as the main challenger to Trump.

And in Florida, where Rubio was once seen as the leading challenger to Trump, the new CBS poll has Trump still leading at 44 percent, but Cruz is now second at 24, overtaking Rubio at 21 percent.

http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/cruz-surging-illinois-ohio/2016/03/13/id/718892/