@Gop_skippySkippy
Looking better, #NewtGingrich in 3rd up to 14%rasmussenreports.com/public_content… Keep it up, You are our best hope
Election 2012: Republican Presidential Primary
National Poll: Cain 26%, Romney 23%, Gingrich 14%
Thursday, November 03, 2011
Georgia businessman Herman Cain, who continues to battle past allegations of sexual harassment, draws the most support nationally for the Republican nomination.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely GOP Primary voters shows Cain with 26% of the vote over former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s 23%. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich draws 14% support, with no other GOP contender reaching double-digits. Thirteen percent (13%) of GOP voters are undecided at this time. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
As for the rest of the field, Texas Governor Rick Perry picks up eight percent (8%) support, Texas Congressman Ron Paul gets seven percent (7%), both Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman each pick up two percent (2%), while former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum draws support from just one percent (1%).
It is important to note, however, that only 32% of GOP voters nationwide are firmly committed to their current candidate. Most (68%) say it is possible something could come up that causes them to change their mind.
While Cain’s edge over Romney is within the margin of error, this is the first time the former CEO has held any sort of lead in a national primary poll. Last month, Cain and Romney were tied at 29% each. In September, Cain picked up just seven percent (7%) of vote and Perry was the frontrunner.
The latest survey was conducted Wednesday night, after three full days of press coverage about the sexual harassment allegations against Cain.
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The survey of 1,000 Likely Republican Primary Voters was conducted on November 2, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
However, when Rasmussen Reports asked GOP voters which candidate they’d support if they only had a choice between Cain, Romney and Gingrich, Romney comes out on top with 33% support while Cain draws 29%. Twenty-four percent (24%) support Gingrich in a three-way matchup.
When asked to choose between only Romney and Cain, the two men are tied. Forty-three percent (43%) support Romney in a two-way matchup, while 42% pick Cain. Romney is also essentially even with Gingrich in a two-way race.
In general election matchups, Romney continues to draw the most support against President Obama out of all the GOP contenders. The two have been virtually tied in surveys for weeks. Cain has trailed the president by single-digits in the past two surveys.
Regardless of preference, 49% of GOP voters nationwide think Romney is most likely to win the nomination. Only 18% believe Cain is most likely to become the Republican nominee. If Romney is the nominee, only 12% would be Very Likely to consider voting for a third party candidate. Another 16% would be Somewhat Likely to do so. Seventy-five percent (75%) say they will support the Republican candidate in the general election even if their favorite candidate doesn’t win.
Among Republican voters nationwide, 76% were able to correctly identify Cain as the candidate who was accused of sexual harassment in the 1990s.
Just 13% of GOP Primary voters think it’s Very Likely that the charges against Cain are serious and true. Another 25% think it’s Somewhat Likely. Forty-eight percent (48%) consider it unlikely, but that includes only 13% who say that it is Not at All Likely.
Among all voters nationally, 39% believe the allegations against Cain are at least somewhat likely to be serious and true, while 38% disagree.
Cain leads among GOP voters who consider themselves Very Conservative with 38% of the vote. Among those who are Somewhat Conservative, Romney picks up 28% of the vote while Cain draws support from 24%.
Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only.
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