There are now signs that the sexual harrassment controversy swirling around GOP Presidential hopeful Herman Cain is now negatively impacting his polling numbers with Republicans and other voters:
Allegations that Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain sexually harassed women in the 1990s have begun to damage his bid for the White House, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.
The poll showed the percentage of Republicans who view Cain favorably dropped 9 percentage points, to 57 percent from 66 percent a week ago.
Among all registered voters, Cain’s favorability declined 5 percentage points, to 32 percent from 37 percent.
The survey represents the first evidence that sexual harassment claims dating from Cain’s time as head of the National Restaurant Association have taken a toll on his presidential campaign.
A majority of respondents, 53 percent, believe sexual harassment allegations against Cain are true despite his denials. Republicans were less likely to believe they are true, with 39 percent thinking they are accurate.
“The most striking thing is that Herman Cain is actually seeing a fairly substantial decline in favorability ratings toward him particularly among Republicans,” said Ipsos pollster Chris Jackson.
Cain has been running even or in some cases ahead of Republican presumptive-in-many-polls front runner former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. In recent days Cain has gone on the attack against the media, insisted he is finished talking about the issue, and been defended by conservative talk show hosts who’ve used the argument that the liberal media and Democrats are a)out to get him b)trying to bring him down c)racists. However, most informed speculation points to a Republican rival as having engineered the scandal that took him off message. Meanwhile, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has seen his polling numbers go up, fueling speculation that Gingrich would be the new Anti-Romney if Cain’s campaign truly implodes.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.