Herman Cain Closes in on Mitt Romney in Gallup Poll

A national poll released on Monday found former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts leading the pack of Republican presidential candidates -- and businessman Herman Cain right on his heels.

A Gallup poll released late on Monday had Romney in front of the pack with 20 percent and Cain in a close second with 18 percent. Gov. Rick Perry of Texas stood in third with 15 percent.

Compared to a Gallup poll taken in the middle of September -- before Cain scored an upset victory at the Presidency 5 straw poll hosted by the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) in Orlando -- Cain has gained major momentum while Perry has lost more than half of his support. In the September poll, Perry led with 31 percent followed by Romney with 24 percent. Cain was in a three-way tie for fourth place with 5 percent.

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who placed third in the September poll, took fourth in the new Gallup poll with 8 percent followed by former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich who drew 7 percent. U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota took 5 percent followed by former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania with 3 percent and former Gov. Jon Huntsman of Utah with 2 percent.

The poll of 1,064 Republicans and Republican-leaning independents was taken from Oct. 3-7 and had a margin of error of +/- 4 percent.