Oct 26, 2011

Polls: Mitt Romney leads in first four states to vote

By Catalina Camia, USA TODAY Updated 1h ago

Mitt Romney is leading in new polls on the GOP presidential nomination, taken in the four states that are set to cast the first votes next year.

The surveys by CNN/Time/ORC International show the former Massachusetts governor leading businessman Herman Cain in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida.

Romney has a commanding 27-percentage point lead over Cain in New Hampshire, while they are essentially tied in South Carolina.

The race is intensifying, with the Iowa caucuses just 10 weeks away on Jan. 3.

Polls are a snapshot in time, and the survey results show nearly half or more of the respondents in each state say they might change their minds when it's finally time to go to the voting booth or caucus gathering.

"Only about a third of all respondents in the surveys say their minds are made up," CNN Polling Director Keating Holland says in the network's Political Ticker blog.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul is the third choice of GOP voters in all the early states except Florida. Former House speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry are tied behind Romney and Perry in the Sunshine State poll.

Perry, who has faltered since making a splash upon joining the GOP field in August, does best in South Carolina where 11% of respondents say he's their nominee.

The surveys were taken Oct. 20-25 and the margin of error in each state is +/-5 percentage points.

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