Mitt Romney slides to third place in Iowa poll as Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul seize top spots
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, whose candidacy tanked over the summer, has surged into first place in Iowa, according to a Des Moines Register poll published today.
The poll found Gingrich with support from 25 percent of likely voters in Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses, which will be held Jan. 3. Texas Representative Ron Paul was in second place with 18 percent, followed by former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney with 16 percent.
Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann and businessman Herman Cain were tied with 8 percent. The poll was conducted before Cain suspended his campaign on Saturday.
The poll illustrates the resurgence of Gingrich, who lost much of his staff this summer and whose campaign went into debt. In October, a Des Moines Register poll put Gingrich’s support at just 7 percent in Iowa, the same as it had been in June. But with the drop in enthusiasm for the campaigns of Texas Governor Rick Perry and now Cain, Gingrich has emerged as the choice of conservative and Tea Party-affiliated voters who are looking for an alternative to Romney.
Since October, Gingrich went from having almost no staff to having six staff in Iowa and around 10 in New Hampshire, the first primary state.
Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond said he believes the polling reflects Gingrich’s ability to get out his message of bold solutions to the “massive problems’’ the country is facing. Hammond acknowledged that unlike Romney or Paul, who are each campaigning for the Republican nomination for the second time, the Gingrich organization is being built “on the fly.’’
But, Hammond said, “Underestimating our capacity to build and grow is done at our opponents’ detriment.’’
Meanwhile, Romney’s support dropped from 22 percent in October. But one positive note for Romney is that voters still view him as the most able to beat President Obama. According to the poll, 38 percent of respondents judged Romney as the most electable candidate in the general election, compared to 22 percent for Gingrich.
The race is still fluid. Only 28 percent of respondents said their mind was made up, while 60 percent could still be persuaded.
The poll of 2,222 Republican and independent voters was conducted Nov. 27-30 by Selzer & Co. and has a margin of error of 4.9 percent.
Shira Schoenberg can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @shiraschoenberg.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com