A new University of Iowa Hawkeye Poll says the Republican field for that state's caucuses boils down to Mitt Romney and everyone else.
Polling for caucuses is difficult, but these results are pretty easy to read. Romney holds a commanding lead, with 36 percent of likely GOP caucus-goers, almost equal to the next three combined. Those three — Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee and Fred Thompson — are all bunched together at between 11 percent and 13 percent.
Romney added 8 percentage points to his lead since the August Hawkeye Poll, while Huckabee appears to have maintained the bounce he received from August's Iowa Straw Poll.
Tom Tancredo has all but faded, dropping to 2 percent in the poll, while John McCain has made a slight comeback to reach 6 percent.
The most intriguing number, though, may be the "don't know" figure, which has dropped to less than 15 percent, down from 27 percent in August.
Among those still on the fence, two-thirds are weekly church-goers, suggesting there's room for a religious conservative to expand his vote even more.
Here's the poll's list of the percentage of voters in each party rated these issues as their top concern:
................................................Dem.......Rep
ABORTION.............................1.4.........7.2
AGRICULTURAL POLICY.....1.4.........1.4
ECONOMY............................15.8.......15.8
EDUCATION...........................6.7.........4.0
ENERGY POLICY...................2.4..........2.9
ENVIRONMENT/....................5.7..........1.1
GLOBAL WARMING
GAY MARRIAGE...................0.7..........2.9
HEALTH CARE....................23.2..........9.5
IMMIGRATION......................2.4........13.7
IRAQ WAR...........................34.9........15.5
TERRORISM..........................1.7........21.9
— Stephen Dinaan, national political reporter, The Washington Times
Comments (1)
We now know what the issues are. What are the critical success factors of those issues? We may be able to find a common ground. Example: the Iraq has the highest concern with Democrats. Why? It's not terrorism. It must be so they can spend the money on healthcare. Why? Are millions dying in this country because of lack of heathcare? The biggest issue with the Republicans is terrorism? Why? Is it linked to the Iraq War? Looks like it. It also seems linked to the economy. It looks like the Republicans want to spend on fighting terrorism. Somewhere between there has to be a common ground. Both healthcare and terrorism are security risk investments. What is the analysis on each with regard to buying the insurance? Thats where the common ground is.
Posted by Larry Stone | October 30, 2007 3:57 PM