A Pro-Ron Paul super PAC is brandishing a new poll that shows him at the top of the pack in Iowa. Rep. Paul (R-TX) has the lead with a quarter of the vote, they say!
Well, kind of.
The poll, conducted by Indiana polling firm TeleResearch, produced one sample of nearly 700 likely Republican caucus-goers which showed Paul and businessman Herman Cain tied for the lead at 22 percent, with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich close behind at 21. Former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney gets 17 percent to round out the candidates with double digits.
But here’s where the Pro-Paul group, Revolution PAC, sees their lead. They posted results which included “168 disaffected Democrats and independents” that plan to participate in the GOP caucus, and voila! Paul has the lead with 25 percent, Gingrich drops to 21 and Cain to 20.
Of course the general argument the Paul folks are making is their candidate appeals to a wider political demographic than just Republican voters, and combined with a motivated ground game, they might be able to use those factors to win the Iowa caucus. And Paul has been moving up slowly anyway, despite not having one of the patented surges that every GOP candidate has seemed to have this presidential cycle.
Revolution PAC just released the topline results, which you can see here, and said they would be releasing the full results later on Wednesday. But the idea of adding a specific a 168 voters on top of the difficultly in polling potential caucus-goers of any political persuasion is to be taken with a grain of salt.
