Hot off his big Utah victory and the gathering momentum of endorsements, including Jeb Bush, Cruz has some good news on the polling front: A slight lead in Wisconsin. An Emerson College poll of Wisconsin GOP primary voters, March 20-22, shows Cruz at 36%, Trump 35%, and Kasich 19%.  Behind the top-line is good news for Cruz in that he has better favorables than Trump, better general election matchups and better favorability with independents.

The general election matchup number difference is stark. Cruz is competitive in Wisconsin, Trump is wiped out:

Cruz is only trailing Hillary Clinton by one point in a hypothetical general election matchup, 46% to 45%. In contrast, Trump is trailing both Clinton and her Democratic rival, Bernie Sanders, by the same 9-point margin of 47% to 38% in a potential general election match-up.

On the matter of Kasich, the polls prove that Kasich out of the race would give Cruz a bigger advantage:

In the GOP primary, Ohio Governor John Kasich finishes far behind Cruz (36%) and Trump (35%), with 19% of the vote. It appears that Kasich is pulling votes from Cruz as Kasich supporters find Cruz more favorable than Trump, 36% to 27%. Although Trump is roughly even in his favorable/unfavorable numbers with likely GOP male voters (50/47), he is 10 points under water with GOP women (40/50) and net -28 (33/61) with Independents, who comprise one-third of the Wisconsin electorate. In contrast, Cruz has a +32 favorability with Republican men (64/32), +26 with women (58/32), and +4 (48/44) with Independents.

http://media.wix.com/ugd/3bebb2_73d4ad9247704c9488a764acae6f7767.pdf

The numbers are clear. Kasich staying in the race is helping Trump and Kasich getting out of the race would help Cruz.  Kasich is being not only delusional about his own chances, but dishonest about his impact on the race overall.