So says the new NBC/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll released Sunday.
Donald Trump is still ahead in Iowa, with a 24-19 edge over Ben Carson. Carly Fiorina is at 8, Jeb Bush is at 7, and Jindal, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are each at 6.
Jindal’s eggs are all in the Iowa basket, so he has to be competitive there. He doesn’t have a whole lot of a backup plan if he’s not at least in the top five. The other candidates have secondary plans – Bush has New Hampshire and Florida, Rubio has Florida (if he doesn’t do well there he might be screwed), Cruz has the SEC primary, which Jindal doesn’t look like he has much strength in; Louisiana is part of the SEC primary and it’s questionable whether he can win in Louisiana.
But Jindal has managed to make himself relevant in Iowa, at least according to this poll. He’s now ahead of some others who to date have been taken seriously while he has not – Rand Paul, Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee and John Kasich.
It still doesn’t appear that Jindal has a path to victory. But he might be climbing out of kids’-table territory, at least in Iowa.
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