Polls: Romney Maintains Lead on Eve of Next Debate

By Steven Shepard  //  October 10, 2011 | 6:07 p.m.
Updated: October 10, 2011 | 6:17 p.m.

Mitt Romney, Herman Cain and Texas Gov. Rick Perry comprise the top tier of the field of Republican presidential candidates before the next in a series of televised debates, according to two new polls of national GOP primary voters released Monday.

In each survey, Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, leads, followed by Cain and Perry, whose fortunes have reversed over the past two weeks, with the former Godfather's Pizza CEO climbing into second place and the Texas governor sinking from first to third.

In the first poll, conducted for the Washington Post and Bloomberg News, the co-sponsors of Tuesday's debate in Hanover, N.H., 24 percent of Republican and Republican-leaning adults say they prefer Romney for the GOP presidential nomination. Cain is preferred by 16 percent, while 13 percent prefer Perry. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, is a distant fourth, with six percent.

Cain runs stronger in a new Gallup poll, trailing Romney by just two points, 20 percent to 18 percent. Perry is at 15 percent, with Paul at eight percent. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is at seven percent, with other candidates at five percent or less.

Perry has lost more than half his support since the previous Gallup survey in mid-September, when he led the field with 31 percent of the vote. Romney has also seen his share of the vote drop, from 24 percent last month to 20 percent now. Cain, on the other hand, has risen from five percent, to 18 percent.

The percentage of those who said they were undecided has doubled over that time, from 10 percent in mid-September, to 20 percent now. Tuesday's debate will be focused on economic issues, and the Washington Post-Bloomberg News poll shows that Romney and Cain have been the most effective at appealing to Republicans on those matters. Asked which Republican candidate would do the most to improve the economy, 22 percent of Republicans choose Romney, while 20 percent prefer Cain. Twelve percent of Republicans think Perry would do the most to improve the economy. The Washington Post-Bloomberg News poll was conducted Oct. 6-9 by Princeton Survey Research Associates, surveying 391 Republican and Republican-leaning independent adults. The margin of error is +/- five percent. The Gallup poll was conducted Oct. 3-7, surveying 1,064 Republican and Republican-leaning independent adults, for a margin of error of +/- three percent. For the Gallup poll, the second choices of respondents who originally selected New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani were substituted; those individuals were included for only part of the survey.

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