DMR poll: Newt 25, Paul 2nd place, Romney 3rd

The Des Moines Register's Jennifer Jacobs just tweeted out the topline on the paper's eagerly-awaited poll, and Newt Gingrich is solidly in first place, with Mitt Romney dropping a small bit.

Per Jacobs, Gingrich is at 25 percent, Ron Paul is 18 percent, Mitt Romney gets 16 percent, and undecided is in fourth place with 11 percent.


Of the rest, Michele Bachmann and the now-gone Herman Cain are tied at 8 percent, and Rick Santorum and Rick Perry are tied at 6 percent.

This is not a good poll for Romney, who can't afford to slip too far. Gingrich clearly started picking up the sliding Cain support, and he is now the furthest ahead of Romney that anyone has been in Iowa all year.

The DMR poll is also the gold standard of Iowa surveys, and this solidifies that Gingrich as back from the dead is a very real thing.

As for the rest, the poll also means the Paul rise is also real - and in a fractured, multi-candidate field, if he can pull a few more points his way and expand his base, he could win the caucuses given his level of organization. This would be the best scenario for Romney short of an outright win there himself at this point.

The bulk of Cain's remaining support in the survey will probably head Gingrich's way as well. And so the big question remains the undecideds, and how they break with just about a month to go until the caucuses, and paid media by Romney beginning in earnest there.

This article tagged under: Des Moines Register