Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) are at the top of a new Public Policy Polling (D) survey of Iowa GOP caucus-goers, Gingrich with 22 percent and Paul at 21. Former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney comes in third with 16 and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) gets fourth with 11 percent. The rest of the field is in single digits.
The poll represents a drop in the state for Gingrich, who was at 27 percent just a week ago in PPP’s numbers. Pollsters pointed to the increase in Newt’s unfavorability as the major driver in the new scores. From PPP:
Gingrich has dropped 5 points in the last week and he’s also seen a significant decline in his favorability numbers. Last week he was at +31 (62/31) and he’s now dropped 19 points to +12 (52/40). The attacks on him appear to be taking a heavy toll- his support with Tea Party voters has declined from 35% to 24%.
Paul meanwhile has seen a big increase in his popularity from +14 (52/38) to +30
(61/31). There are a lot of parallels between Paul’s strength in Iowa and Barack Obama’s in 2008- he’s doing well with new voters, young voters, and non-Republican voters: -59% of likely voters participated in the 2008 Republican caucus and they support Gingrich 26-18. But among the 41% of likely voters who are ‘new’ for 2012 Paul leads Gingrich 25-17 with Romney at 16%.
