has seen poll numbers rise despite his controversial comments and from las vegas al jazeera's allen fisher. >> reporter: he is the u.s. republican frontrunner and donald trump has a huge lead in polls and dominates headlines and attacks bigger crowds and this one in las vegas. >> i heard when they announced 41 to 14 and i like cruz, good guy but this is how they announced cruz surging. [laughter] so when i heard, this was on television cruz surging so i said i don't know that sounds bad to me coming up, cruz surging and said cruz is surging, trump 41, cruz 14, i said wait a minute what is going on. >> reporter: changed the political play book in the united states and called iowa dumb and numbers in iowa went up. criticized hispanics and numbers went up and called for a complete and total ban of muslims coming in the united states and he was heavily criticized and numbers went up. for numbers he is the only man who can in the words of his campaign make the world great again. >> supporters of donald trump and early on i did not think he had a chance and did not take him seriously as a politi

but as allen fisher reports in the lead up to next year's election three years ago this month, was seen as a tipping point. the horrific event that would force to exam the laws, president obama called for action, a bill was sent to congress, the american public overwhelmingly supported changes but nothing happened. then after the events and 14 new victims the president again expresses regret over a mass shooting and renews a call for action. >> it is going to be important for all of us including our legislatures to see what we can do to make sure that when individuals decide that they want to do somebody harm, or maybe it harder for them to do it, because right now it is too easy. >> mass shootings grab the headlines every day, 89 people die from gun violence somewhere in the 50 states. on average, 31 or murdered. 55 kill themselves two die unintentionally, and one the intent is unknown. each day on average, 208 people are shot and survive. one group say there are small changes. >> many states pass stronger gun laws pass background checks some pass high power rifle bans. so it is starti

allen fisher, al jazeera, las vegas. >> mr. trump has some of the latest data 41% of republican support, a big jump up from 28% two months ago. that texas senator, i like that man, ted cruz is up four points since the october poll, 14%, and florida marco rubio has also risen 10 points to 10%. ben carson is there, polling well, but his 18% supporters is now up to nine, and despite having two former presidents in the family, jeb bush has just 3% with a cent report. the more i am joined, the president of sales and company, with researches public opinion, and conducts the des moines register, bloomberg politics, iowa poller, i shouldn't have said that then, i should have said you are an expert who normally gets it right, and donald trump doesn't think much of you, doesn't like you much, does he. >> not lately. kind of a running pattern about the polls and so when a poll looks as though that he is not winning then he usually has something to say about it. >> this ises the point, isn't it. >> you found out that they are doing so well

but as allen fisher reports in the lead up to next year's election, the issue of changing gun laws is the most polarizing. the shooting three years ago this month, was seen as a tipping point. a horrific event which would force the u.s. to exam the gun laws. president obama called for action, a bill was sent to congress and the american public supported changes but nothing happened. after the event, the president again expresses his regret, and renew as call for action. >> it is going to be important for all of us including our legislatures to see what we can do to mark sure when individuals decide they want to do something harm, we are making it harder to do it right now it is just too easy. >> mass shootings grabbed the headlines every day, 89 people die somewhere in the 59 states. on average, 31 are murdered, two die unintentionally, and one is killed by police, and one the intent unknown. each day on average, 208 people are shot and survive one group says there are small changes. >> many states after the sandy hook massacre pass background checks some padsed high powers rifle bans

from las vegas allen fisher reports. >> reporter: he is the u.s.n presidential frontrunner and a huge leader in polls and dominates the headlines and attracts bigger and bigger crowds, this one this las vegas. >> so i heard today when they announced 14-14 and i like cruz, good guy but this is how they announced cruz surging. so what i heard, this was on television cruz surging and said i don't know that sounds bad to me coming up, cruz surging and said the cruz 41, trump 14, i said wait a minute what is going on. >> he changed the political play book in the u.s. and calls iowa dumb and numbers in iowa went up and criticized hispanics and numbers went up and called for a complete ban of muslims in the u.s. and was widely criticized and his numbers went up and supporters he is the man in the words of his campaign make america great again. >> i'm one of the biggest supporters of donald trump and early on didn't think he had a chance and did not take him seriously as a politician and the more he talked the more i realized he is connected with the repub

allen fisher reports. >> reporter: it was the fighter before christmas as the holidays loom the lastr republican presidential hopefuls to make an impression. and jeb bush decided to attack donald trump. >> you are never going to be president of the united states by insulting your way to the presidency. >> i'm at 42, and you are at 3, but so far -- >> it doesn't matter. >> reporter: ted cruz insists the u.s. must use its military might. >> you use air power directed, but the object isn't to level a city. the object is to kill the isis terrorists. >> reporter: marco rubio believes it's about taking a lead on world events. >> we cannot continue to outsource foreign policy. >> reporter: this was a significant and substantial debate, the candidates all touched on the same themes, but all seemed to have different ideas on the best way forward. they were determined, though, to suggest that the republicans would take a much different approach from barack obama and the democratic white house. after the debate, ben carson rejected the idea he had a bad night and donald trump repeated to me wha

. >> allen fisher, al jazeera, washington. >> much more to come. reaction to sepp blatter's ban and wheth he still has a chance to clear his name. >> time to get all the sports news now, here's andy. >> thanks so much barbara. fifa president sepp blatter session he will fight the decision against him, appealing the ruling made by fifa's ethics committee. blatter and are miche michel ple both banned. blatter hoped to hand over the reins to his successor in 2018. >> i'm sorry that i am still somewhere a punching ball. but i'm sorry that i am as president of fifa, this punching ball. and i'm sorry for football. >> well, platini is also to appeal the decision calling fifa's decision a masquerade. the frenchman had been a favorite for successor to blatter answer job. seasoned fifa observer andrew warshah says it's platini not blatter who has the most to lose. >> i think it's more far reaching for platini than blatter. blatter is stepping down already, in two months time. he's been there for 40 years, in charge for almost 18. but michel platini's star wa

more than double the share who backed his closest rifle allen ial rival senator ted cruz. christian fisher with breaking news concern concern dr. ben carson's campaign. >> today den carson said everything is on the stable, he said we're refining operational practices and stream lining staff assignments but my senior team remains in place with my full confidence as donald trump and hillary clinton are headed into holidays with double digit leads, now focusing their fire on each other, clinton responded to trump's crude description of her 2008 loss to barack obama. >> i don't know that he has any boundaries at all. his bluster have become his campaign. reporter: clinton said quote, i don't respond to him personaly, he 35s on that -- threthrives on that kind of exchange. and trump replied in a tweet. trump is at 39% right now according to a new cnn poll, that is 21 points ahead of his closest competitor ted cruz, ben carson and marco rubio are down but tied for third at 10%, and krist novoselic is down from last month but ahead of jeb bush. so is rand paul, in order to qualify for main debate