Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's speech at the Iowa "freedom" summit two weeks ago really wowed conservative Iowans and he's surging in the latest
Iowa poll from Bloomberg Politics and the
Des Moines Register.
Walker's now the frontrunner in that poll at 15 percent (up from four percent last October) followed by Sen. Rand Paul at 14 percent, and 2008 Iowa caucus winner, former Gov. Mike Huckabee, at 10 percent. The poll was conducted before Mitt Romney dropped out and he finished at 13 percent.
Jeb Bush, who didn’t attend the Iowa summit, came in at a weak eight percent. The Bloomberg article notes that he is “increasingly is viewed negatively by likely Republican caucus-goers.” But if Bush is serious about winning both the nomination and the general election, not playing in Iowa may actually work to his advantage.
Gov. Chris Christie, who did attend, did even worse than Bush at just four percent.
More troubling for Christie: He's viewed unfavorably by 54 percent, among the highest negative ratings in the potential field. At 9 percent, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson pulls more support than either Bush or Christie.
Meanwhile Hillary Clinton trounced virtually every potential candidate on the Democratic side, with 56 percent, followed by Mass. Sen. Elizabeth Warren at 16 percent and Vice President Joe Biden at nine percent.
When Romney supporters are reallocated, here’s how the field shakes out.
Walker's backing grows to 16 percent, followed by 15 percent for Paul, 13 percent for Huckabee, and 10 percent for Carson. Removing Romney from his third-place spot had no effect on the ranking order of the other top potential candidates and offered the biggest boost to Huckabee. Bush's overall number inched up just one point, to 9 percent.
Walker, who is not known as a particularly charismatic speaker, reportedly “captivated the crowd with a vivid account of threats to his family four years ago during his fight with organized labor, and his efforts to push tax cuts and anti-abortion policies.”