WASHINGTON – Mitt Romney holds a narrow lead in Iowa in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, according to a poll released yesterday that also showed significant concern as to whether his closest rival, Ron Paul, would be an acceptable nominee.
According to the NBC/Marist poll, 23 per cent of likely participants in Tuesday’s Iowa caucuses said they would support Mr Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, and 21 per cent backed Texas congressman Paul. But 41 per cent said they believed Mr Paul, with his libertarian and isolationist messages, would be unacceptable as the Republican nominee.
Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum came in third with 15 per cent, continuing his late surge in Iowa, a state where he hopes that his social conservative message would resonate with evangelical Christian voters.
Mr Santorum was followed by Texas governor Rick Perry with 14 per cent, and former House of Representatives speaker Newt Gingrich with 13 per cent. Mr Gingrich has been hit with negative advertisements and was criticised for poor organisation after he failed to qualify for the primary ballot in Virginia. Mr Perry, meanwhile, is looking for a boost after a wave of his Texas supporters arrived in Iowa.
The survey of 425 likely Republican caucus-goers, including some independents and Democrats who might caucus as Republicans, was conducted this week. The results, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.8 percentage points, are similar to an earlier CNN/Time poll. – (Reuters)