The latest Rasmussen Reports poll of Iowa Caucus goers is out, and it doesn’t bode well for Mitt Romney:
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of the Iowa caucus finds former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee with 28% of the vote, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney with 25% support, and everyone else far behind. National frontrunner Rudy Giuliani gets just 12% of the vote in Iowa at this time while former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson is the only other candidate in double digits at 11% (see crosstabs).
Given the margin of error, the challenges of determining the relatively small number of people who will participate in a caucus, and other factors, the race is far too close to call at this point in time. However, the fact that Romney is no longer the clear frontrunner in Iowa reflects a stunning change in the race.
Compared to our prior survey, the trend is unmistakable—Huckabee has gone up and just about everybody else has gone down. Huckabee’s 28% support represents a twelve point increase from a Rasmussen Reports poll conducted earlier in the month. Romney is down four points while Giuliani and Thompson are each down three points from the previous survey. John McCain is down two points and earns just 4% support. Ron Paul picked up a point and is now at the 5% level.
Notwithstanding the disclaimer, this is stunning change in the race but it’s really something that’s been building since Huckabee came in a surprising second to Romney in the Iowa Straw Poll back in August.
Whether this is a good thing is another question. As The Club For Growth has noted, Huckabee is far from being a fiscal conservative, he has no foreign policy experience, and his recent campaign ad is disturbingly religious.
The prospect of the Republican race coming down to a choice between Rudy Giuliani and Mike Huckabee is, well, disturbing doesn’t begin to describe it.
