Romney, Clinton Lead In New ARG Iowa Poll
Mitt Romney has opened up a 10-point lead in the latest American Research Group (ARG) poll of likely Republican Iowa caucus voters. Romney had trailed Giuliani by one point in ARG’s previous poll in late July, but the former Massachusetts Governor now leads all GOP contenders in the most recent surveys by every public pollster:
ARG: 27-17 over Giuliani (August 26-29)
Zogby: 33-14 over Giuliani (August 17-18)
ABC News / Washington Post: 25-14 over Giuliani (July 26-31)
KCCI-TV / Research 2000: 25-14 over Fred Thompson (June 23-25)
Mason-Dixon: 25-21 over Thompson (June 13-16)
Iowa Poll (Des Moines Register): 29-16 over Giuliani and John McCain (May 12-16)
In the new ARG poll, Mike Huckabee has surged to 14 percent—good for third place. Huckabee had never received more than 2 percent in any of ARG’s previous eight surveys, so the former Arkansas Governor is definitely benefiting within the Hawkeye State (if not nationally) from his strong showing in the Iowa Straw Poll conducted earlier in the month.
Fred Thompson, who will be officially launching his presidential campaign on September 6th, was fourth in the new ARG poll with 13 percent, followed by non-candidate Newt Gingirch at 7 percent, Senator John McCain at 5 percent, and Congressmen Ron Paul and Duncan Hunter at 1 percent each.
McCain has tumbled from 29 percent in ARG’s March Iowa survey to 26 percent in April, 25 percent in May, 13 percent in June, to just 5 percent this month. In a poll released today by Arizona State University, the Senator is also just barely leading Romney in his home state of Arizona, 24-19 percent.
On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton leads the pack for the fourth straight monthly ARG poll in Iowa. However, at 28 percent, Clinton’s measured support was at its second lowest level across nine polls since December 2006. Barack Obama registered his highest level of support in Iowa at 23 percent, followed by John Edwards (20 percent), Bill Richardson (13 percent), Dennis Kucinich (3 percent), Joe Biden (1 percent), and Chris Dodd (1 percent).