Herman Cain and Mitt Romney are in a tight battle for the Iowa Caucuses, according to a new poll from the Des Moines Register released Saturday.
The poll of likely Iowa caucus attendees follows recent numbers from CNN showing Cain and Romney locked in a close battle for the top spot in the first contest of the 2012 Republican presidential primary cycle.
Cain has been surging in national numbers for a few weeks now, despite the fact that he has no campaign to speak of in any of the early primary states. Observers on the ground say his lack of infrastructure will hurt him badly once it’s time for actual voting. He also hasn’t spent much time in the state.
Romney hasn’t spent much time in Iowa either, and hasn’t been considered totally engaged in the state for a while.
In the new poll, Cain pulls in 23%. Romney has 22%.
Rick Perry’s less-than-stellar performance in recent polls also is reflected in the new Register numbers, which show him pulling in just 7% support. He wasn’t featured in the last Register poll back in June, which showed Michele Bachmann on top. She’s now polling just ahead of Perry at 8%.
Updated link: Read the full results here.
