According to Public Policy Polling, a firm with connections to prominent national Democrats, businessman Herman Cain has jumped ahead of former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts to lead the pack of hopefuls for the Republican presidential nomination.
PPP released a national poll on Wednesday showing Cain with 30 percent and Romney trailing with 22 percent. Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich was barely leading Texas Gov. Rick Perry for third place, taking 15 percent, with the governor of the Lone Star State right behind him with 14 percent.
The rest of the field trailed in single digits. Two members of Congress -- U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas -- took 5 percent apiece. Former Gov. Jon Huntsman of Utah garnered 2 percent. Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania took 1 percent and former Gov. Gary Johnson of New Mexico lagged with less than 1 percent.
Cains the flavor of the week, but with 70 percent of Republican voters either undecided or willing to change their minds, this race is as wide open as its ever been, said Dean Debnam, president of PPP, on Wednesday. Cain had led the pack in a poll PPP took of Iowa, home of the first caucus, earlier in the week.
In the PPP poll in September, Perry led the pack with 31 percent, followed by Romney with 18 percent, Paul with 11 percent and Gingrich with 10 percent. Bachmann, who had led a national PPP poll back in July, took 9 percent while Cain was in sixth place with 8 percent.
Cain was helped by impressive numbers among usual Republican primary voters. Sixty-six percent of those surveyed held Cain in favorable regard while 15 percent saw him as unfavorable. Gingrich was seen as favorable by 57 percent but 30 percent viewed the former congressional leader as unfavorable. Romney also was seen as favorable by a majority of those surveyed -- 55 percent -- while less than a third -- 31 percent -- saw him as unfavorable. While barely 60 percent of those surveyed had an opinion of him, the PPP poll found that Santorum had left a solid impression with 43 percent seeing him as favorable while only 18 percent saw him as unfavorable.
Two of the candidates were barely breaking even in the poll. Forty-two percent viewed Perry as favorable while 38 percent saw him as unfavorable. Bachmann had similar numbers, with 41 percent seeing her as favorable and 39 percent seeing her in an unfavorable light.
The poll found Paul was upside down, with a majority of those surveyed -- 54 percent -- seeing him as unfavorable and only 29 percent seeing the Texas congressman as favorable. Huntsman was also upside down with 31 percent seeing him as unfavorable and 20 percent viewing him with favor.
The other candidates were mostly unknown. Johnson was seen as favorable by 9 percent and unfavorable by 23 percent. Former Gov. Buddy Roemer of Lousiana was seen as favorable by 5 percent and unfavorable by 18 percent. Activist Fred Karger was the most unknown candidate with 2 percent seeing him as favorable and 19 percent as unfavorable.
The poll surveyed 484 usual Republican primary voters and was taken from Oct. 7-10; it had a margin of error of +/- 4.5 percent.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
