When Mike Huckabee first began to gain ground in the race for the Republican Presidential nomination, many dismissed him. Then, pundits began analyzing which other candidate might benefit from the Huckaboom. Finally, people began treating Huckabee as if he was a candidate with a serious chance of winning the nomination.
That’s when the other candidates for the GOP nomination began pushing back, hard. Over the past week, Iowa voters have learned a lot about Mike Huckabee and not all of it has been flattering. Favorable opinions of Huckabee have dropped from 81% to 67% over the past week and the Huckabee tide has receded a bit. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Iowa’s Likely Caucus Participants shows that Huckabee and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney are now essentially tied for the lead in the state that will vote first in 2008.
It’s now Huckabee 28%, Romney 27%, and the man endorsed by the Des Moines Register, John McCain, in third at 14%. No other Republican candidate reaches double digits. Before the attacks on Huckabee’s record began to have an impact, the former Arkansas Governor enjoyed a double digit lead in the previous Rasmussen Reports poll. The current results place Huckabee at the same level of support that he had in late November, when he first moved ahead of Romney.
This is the second Rasmussen Reports poll released this week to show Huckabee losing his lead and falling back into a tie with Romney. In South Carolina, both Huckabee and Romney now earn 33% of the vote. Earlier in the month, Huckabee had opened up a seven point lead. However, while the Huckabee tide may have pulled back from its high water mark in the earliest voting states, it continues to be felt around the country. Nationally, Huckabee still leads in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll. In Missouri, Huckabee holds a two-point edge over Hillary Clinton in a general election match-up at the same time Clinton holds a six-point edge over Giuliani.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/iowa/republican_iowa_caucus