Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich square off in Saturday's debate on ABC
Public Policy Polling (PDF). 12/11-13. Iowa Republicans. ±4.2%. (
12/3-5 results)
Gingrich: 22 (27)
Paul: 21 (18)
Romney: 16 (16)
Bachmann: 11 (13)
Perry: 9 (9)
Santorum: 8 (6)
Huntsman: 5 (4)
Johnson: 1 (1)
The big news is that Newt Gingrich's support has dropped while Ron Paul's has gone up. The nine-point gap that separated them last week is now just one point. There's still plenty of room for change: 40 percent of Republicans say they might support someone else, down a little from 45 percent last week.
For Gingrich, the most alarming result in the poll is that his net favorable rating is down considerably from last week—a bigger drop than any of the other candidates.
Net favorable ratings
Paul: +30 (+14)
Bachmann: +22 (+21)
Santorum: +16 (+13)
Gingrich: +12 (+31)
Romney: +4 (+4)
Perry: -4 (-2)
Huntsman: -15 (-15)
Gingrich and Paul were the only two candidates with major movement in their net favorable rating, but it's interesting that while Paul's strong rating has vaulted him into a near-tie with Gingrich, neither Bachmann nor Santorum are polling as strongly as Gingrich.
Thirty-one percent of likely caucus-goers said it would raise "major concerns" if a candidate had cheated on their spouse; 33 percent said it would raise "major concerns" if a candidate had support an individual mandate for health insurance. Roughly a third said cheating and the mandate would raise "some concerns."
More likely caucus-goers said the most important thing to them was a candidate's position issues (56 percent) than the candidate's ability to beat President Obama (32 percent).