Ron Paul Now Leads in Iowa as Newt Gingrich Collapses

With two weeks to go, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas now leads the pack of Republican presidential hopefuls in Iowa while former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich has come crashing down in the Hawkeye State, according to a poll released late on Sunday from Public Policy Polling (PPP), a firm with connection to prominent Democrats on the national level.

The PPP poll of likely Iowa caucus voters has Paul, who finished a strong second in the Iowa Republican straw poll back in August, ahead with 23 percent followed by former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts with 20 percent. Gingrich, who had been leading earlier in the month, takes third with 14 percent, while three conservatives -- U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania are tied for fourth, breaking double digits with 10 percent apiece. Two former governors who have focused on New Hampshire instead of Iowa -- Jon Huntsman of Utah and Gary Johnson of New Mexico -- trail in the low single digits. Huntsman takes 4 percent while Johnson garners 2 percent.

Newt Gingrichs Iowa support was extremely soft and has collapsed in only two weeks, said Dean Debnam, president of PPP. Ron Paul has taken the lead, but it will be interesting to see if he can turn out his unique base of voters for the caucus.

Noting that Romney is the second choice of many of the likely caucus participants, Debnam said that the former Massachusetts governor could be helped if one of the underdogs stumbles in Iowa.

If any of the second-tier candidates see their supporters abandon them in the final two weeks, Mitt Romney is the most likely beneficiary and it could propel him to the win, said Debnam.

The poll of 597 likely Iowa Republican caucus voters was taken from Dec. 16-18 and had a margin of error of +/- 4 percent.