Romney and Bachmann Top New Iowa Poll on GOP Field
Year’s first poll from Des Moines Register casts both candidates ahead of the pack.
| Posted Sunday, June 26, 2011, at 1:05 PM ET
For Iowa’s Republicans, it’s former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney over Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachman by a hair in the 2012 presidential race.
In the late June poll from the Des Moines Register of 400 likely Republican caucus-goers, 23 percent picked Romney as their first choice, with Rep. Bachmann scoring 22 percent. Former Godfather’s CEO Hermain Cain came in third with 10 percent; all the other candidates pulled single digits.
Romney's campaign has said the former governor wouldn't actively participate in Iowa polls, reportedly anticipating a poor showing, but the news suggested he was in a better position in the state than previously thought. The Iowa caucus, scheduled for February 6 2012, is a contest proven to make or break candidacies.
One independent Republican pollster said the results proved Bachmann — expected to officially enter the race Monday — was a real contender for the GOP nomination. “This would indicate that she’s going to be a real player in Iowa,” Randy Gutermuth told the Register.
According to the Associated Press, the Minnesota congresswoman said she was pleased by the results of the poll, and plans to announce her candidacy for president from her birthplace of Waterloo, Iowa.
On CBS show Face The Nation Sunday, she described to host Bob Schieffer how she was called by God to run for political office during regular prayer.
“I have a sense of assurance about the direction I think that God is speaking into my heart that I should go," she said.
When Schieffer asked Rep. Bachmann about a recent Politifact analysis of 23 of her statements, only one of which was rated as “true,” she said that it was the president’s “exactly wrong” energy policy that should be called scrutinized.
“Again I have to say, congresswoman, I asked you a question,” said Shieffer, “and to my knowledge, I don’t believe you answered it.”
The apparently truth-challenged nature of Bachmann's statements hasn't hurt her fundraising capabilities, though. In fact, as the Washington Post recently reported, they may be helping her bring in even more cash.
