Amid the clamor for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie among GOPers, a new poll finds some cause and effect:
Texas Gov. Rick Perry — the one who was supposed to come in the race and blow everyone else away (sort of like Fred Thompson and Rudy Guiliani were once supposed to do) is sagging in the polls while former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is rising — with former Godfathers Pizza CEO Herman Cain rising faster than dough on a Chicago style pizza:
Mitt Romney reclaimed his front-runner status as Rick Perry fell to second place and Herman Cain tripled his support base, rising to third place in a new poll released today.The FOX News phone poll found Romney claimed the support of 23 percent of Republican primary voters while Perry garnered 19 percent of support, a 10-point drop since FOX’s last poll at the end of August. Texas Gov. Perry has sat atop presidential polls, but the poll released today delivers his first second-place status since entering the presidential race six weeks ago.
Herman Cain reached the third-place slot after claiming 17 percent, an 11-point jump since August.
Cain is one of those “sentimental favorites” candidates: someone who most likely could never be nominated but whose candor and sincerity wins the hearts of voters in a day and age when so many politicians seem phonies and..ahem…at variance with the truth.
The 925-person poll was conducted Sept. 25-27, days after Perry’s shaky performance at the FOX News debate and Cain’s unexpected win in the Florida Straw Poll. CNN/ORC released the first poll after the political weekend in Florida Monday, which still showed Perry at the top of the field with 28 percent of support and Romney at 21 percent.
Rounding out the bottom of the FOX poll are Newt Gingrich at 11 percent, Ron Paul at 6 percent, Jon Huntsman at 4 percent, and Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum at 3 percent each. Bachmann dropped 8 percentage points since the last FOX News poll in August, weeks after her win at the Ames Iowa Straw Poll.
When asked if New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, whom the poll described as a “strong leader and a straight talker,” should run for president, only 32 percent of respondents said he should run while 39 percent said no, and 28 percent said they were undecided.
The poll also found that Donald Trump’s endorsement would impact few Republicans.
Trump remains a political legend in his own mind — and, apparently , of the Republican Presidential wannabes who are flocking to see him to ensure they are in his good graces. But he can give them some tips on hair care.
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.