Capitol View: October 29, 2011 Archive

Bachmann 4th in Iowa Poll; trails Cain, Romney, Paul

Posted at 7:29 PM on October 29, 2011 by Catharine Richert (7 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2012, Michele Bachmann

Ten weeks before the Iowa caucuses, Republican presidential hopeful Rep. Michele Bachmann is in fourth place in the closely-watched Des Moines Register Iowa Poll, released tonight.

Bachmann, who trailed one percentage point behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney with 22 percent support back in June, now has 8 percent support among likely Republican caucus goers, according to the poll.

Her latest numbers reflect other recent polls. According to Real Clear Politics, Bachmann has an average of 7.3 percent support in Iowa based on data from a variety of surveys conducted in the state. Nationally, her average is 3.8 percent.

Bachmann has made clear that winning the Iowa caucuses is a priority, spending much of her time and resources there in recent weeks.

In a powerpoint presentation released by her campaign last month, Bachmann's campaign manager, Keith Nahigian, said that she "has to win Iowa and move on from there."

Herman Cain leads the poll with 23 percent support, closely followed by Romney with 22 percent support. Back in June, Cain had only 10 percent support.

With a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points, Cain and Romney are in a statistical dead heat.

Meanwhile, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has only 7 percent support, despite his initial popularity nationwide after he announced his candidacy. But his campaign has since floundered; Perry is averaging 7.3 percent support in Iowa, and 10.5 percent nationally, according to Real Clear Politics

Perry is tied for fifth place with Newt Gingrich. Coming in sixth and seventh place are former Sen. Rick Santorum with 5 percent of the vote and John Huntsman with 1 percent.

The poll surveyed 400 likely Republican caucus goers between Oct. 23-26.