Walker maintains seven-point lead in Iowa
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker hasn’t let up in Iowa, a new poll from the Des Moines Register and Bloomberg shows.
Walker gets the support of 17 percent in the crowded Republican field.
{mosads}Following him are Ben Carson and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) with 10 percent each.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee are next at 9 percent each.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and former Sen. Rick Santorum, who won the 2012 Iowa caucuses, come in at 6 percent each.
Walker led a similar January poll in the state, with 15 percent.
Walker’s well-received speech at the Iowa Freedom Summit in January, where he recounted his battles against unions in Wisconsin, helped catapult him to the top of the field.
The field has been more even in national polls, with Walker tied at 10 percent with Bush, Rubio, Huckabee and Carson in the latest Quinnipiac poll.
Rubio has been gaining support in Iowa, the poll shows. He is climbed to six percent from three percent in January. He is also the top second-place choice, with 12 percent.
His favorability, at 60 percent, is the third-highest, behind Walker at 66 percent and Huckabee, the 2008 winner in Iowa, at 61.
Paul has been looking to reach out to libertarian-minded young people and other voting blocs that are not usually aligned with Republicans.
Paul leads with moderate Republicans, independents who intend to attend the Republican caucuses (21 percent) and people under 45.
But his favorability has also fallen nine points, to 55 percent since January.
Questions have also followed Bush about his chances in Iowa and how hard he will compete in the state. Bush is one of few candidates, with a higher unfavorable rating, at 45 percent, than favorable, at 43.
Carly Fiorina’s favorablity has surged to 41 percent, from 15 percent. She has hammered Hillary Clinton harder than many of the other candidates, but she is at just two percent support.
Outspoken Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) remains at five percent, the same level as in January. And the situation looks especially dire for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, plagued by the bridge closing scandal and other problems in his home state.
He has a 28 percent favorable rating, in contrast to 58 percent who view him unfavorably, and sits at four percent in the poll.
– Updated at 6:49 p.m.
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