Herman Cain surges as Rick Perry falls; candidates tied for second behind Romney: poll

nydailynews.com
BY Philip Caulfield
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, October 4th 2011, 10:06 AM


Herman Cain, left, has surged into a two-way tie with Rick Perry in the GOP primary, a new poll shows. Support for Perry has tumbled sharply recently.

Herman Cain has jumped into a tie with Rick Perry for second place among potential GOP presidential candidates, a new poll shows.

The former Godfather Pizza CEO and current Texas governor both received 16% of the vote, while Mitt Romney led with 25%, a new Washington Post/ABC News poll fojund.

"That is great news that says that the flavor of the week might have some substance," Cain told Politico Tuesday.

The remark was a dig at former vice presidential contender Sarah Palin, who brushed Cain off as a "flavor of the week" after he won a Florida straw poll last month.

Among the rest of the field, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) came in third with 11%, followed by Newt Gingrich and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), both with 7%.

Rick Santorum and John Huntsman scored in the low single digits.

A separate poll in Florida showed the Georgia businessman running just four points behind Romney, 28% to 24%, while Perry received 9% of the vote, a 16 point drop from September.

Since early September, Cain's numbers have jumped 12 points, while Perry's have plummeted by 13 points, the Post/ABC poll showed.

Perry's slide comes after several disappointing debate performances.

He has also been criticized for supporting a policy that provides in-state college tuition to the children of illegal immigrants in Texas.

This week, Perry was fighting off charges of racism after the Washington Post published a report that said he once hosted pals at a West Texas hunting camp once named "N-----head."

In particular, Tea Party members have been quick to abandon Perry.

A scant 10% of tea partiers said they support him over other candidates associated with the movement, down from 45% in early September.

Nearly eight in 10 said Perry's illegal immigrant tuition policy was a problem.

Meanwhile, Tea Party support has swung strongly in Cain's favor over the past month.

Of that group, 30% supported the Georgia businessman, up from 5% in early September.

And while the party debates have been a sore spot for Perry's campaign, 70% of responders said their opinion of Cain improved after watching the debates.

With News Wire Services

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