Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney leads all potential 2016 GOP candidates among Iowa voters and is nearly three times as popular as his closest rival, a new poll finds.
The former Massachusetts governor and 2012 nominee has the support of 35 percent of likely voters in the early caucus state, with former Gov. Mike Huckabee (Ark.) at 9 percent and Gov. Chris Christie (N.J.) at 6 percent, according to a USA Today/Suffolk University poll released Wednesday.
{mosads}The poll comes a day after Romney told conservative radio show host Hugh Hewitt that, while he is pushing for another Republican besides himself to run in 2016, “circumstances can change.”
Before that interview, Romney had repeatedly said that he would not run for president again.
When Romney was kept out of the mix, Huckabee led the GOP field with 13 percent, followed by Christie at 11 percent, Texas Gov. Rick Perry at 9 percent and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 7 percent.
Among Democrats, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had 66 percent support, trailed by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren at 10 percent and Vice President Biden with 8 percent.
The presidential polling was conducted Aug. 23-26 and carried a 7-point margin of error.