New polls show Herman Cain challenging Mitt Romney for frontrunner status in the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.
Cain led the pack at 24 percent in a new nationwide Fox News poll released on October 26. Mitt Romney trailed close behind with 20 percent. The four percentage points dividing the two candidates is close to within the poll's margin of error +/- 3 percent.
A nationwide CBS News/New York Times poll from October 25 also showed Cain on top with 25 percent, with Romney in second place at 21 percent.
Herman Cain is also making life tough for Romney in two of the four earliest voting states. A new CNN/Time/ORG poll unveiled on October 26 had Romney at 24 percent and Cain at 21 percent in Iowa. Just two percentage points separate the two candidates in South Carolina, where 25 percent of voters back Romney and 23 percent support Cain. The poll had a margin of error of +/- 5 percent.
Mitt Romney remains a strong frontrunner among Republican primary voters in New Hampshire, dominating Herman Cain by a margin of 40-13 percent, according to the CNN/Time/ORG poll. Ron Paul trailed closely behind the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza with 12 percent. Romney also continued to lead in Florida, with 30 percent to Cain's 18 percent.
Pundits seem eager for Cain's number to plummet back to earth, perhaps because they failed to predict his rise to frontrunner status. But the numbers don't lie. At least for now, Herman Cain's star continues to rise.
Photo of Herman Cain courtesy of Brian Stansberry via Wikipedia Commons
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Comments: 18
Some Romney supports switched to Perry, then switched back to Romney. But they're not switching to Cain. I think a lot of Cain's new supporters are coming from Perry and Bachmann. I don't think there's much Bachmann can do about it, but I'm not sure Perry's going to give up without a fight. And if there's enough of a battle between Perry and Cain, that could end up working in Mitt's favor.
Romney started rising before Perry peaked. It looks like Romney and Perry were pulling support from all (except Paul) the other candidates. When Perry called his support base heartless, they moved to Cain in droves.
The think Perry is close to done as a viable contender. While has a lot of cash, he will have to do a lot of negative campaigning to take Romney down. I think that approach will drive voters to other candidates (maybe Gingrich).
As the Bachmann's, Perry's, Cain's and even Paul's gain media attention...Romney tends to look more "moderate", more middle of the ground...whereas before a lot of people would have classified him middle/far "Right".
The Obama camp are already formulating an Obama vs Romeny Campaign. I think the writing is already on the "tea leaves" for Romney as GOP candidate.
I also believe that as that materializes, we will see a huge spike in Romney's numbers vs Obama's. The Bachman, Perry, Cain, Paul supporters ARE NOT going to go to Obama's camp - nor are most of the Independents given the choice between the two.
If you look at the Electoral map, I think it will be difficult for Obama to hold Ohio, Indiana, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida. Pennsylvania is his best "stronghold"...if he losses PA he is done. If he holds PA and losses the others, as I suspect he will, then New Hampshire, Maine and Nebraska ALL could play a major part in the final outcome in 2012. FYI: Maine and Nebraska allow splitting their electoral votes partially by "Congressional Districts" - so it's NOT a "winner-takes-all" proposition in those two states.
I disagree. Romney has not really risen in the polls. Bachmann, Perry and now Cain have all seen huge spikes, Romney has remained fairly consistant.
True. I think some of those would've come from other candidates, and some would've come from people who were previously undecided.
"The think Perry is close to done as a viable contender. While has a lot of cash, he will have to do a lot of negative campaigning to take Romney down."
At this point I'm not even really looking at his chances of taking Romney down, but at whether or not he'll take on Cain for the Teabagger vote.
"I think that approach will drive voters to other candidates (maybe Gingrich)."
Well, Gingrich hasn't had an Icarian spike, and his numbers have been reasonably steady but unimpressive, but I guess it's possible if he can convince traditional Republicans that he's a serious contender and if the Teabaggers/Religious Right will support him over someone many of them consider a RINO and cult member.
They are running through candidates too fast and that is the reason I think Romney will be the nominee. He will be the last one standing.
Cain is just the latest flash in the Teapublican pan. He's someone to make them feel good about themselves, because they can tell themselves that they're not racists because they like Cain, even though they supported all that birther nonsense.
I'd LOVE to see him get the nomination. He's may as well be wearing a red nose and big shoes.
How does that make you feel?
How does that make you feel?