Poll: It’s now a four-way race in Iowa

Four Republican presidential candidates are currently in a statistical dead heat in Iowa just seven weeks before the caucus date, a Bloomberg Poll released late Monday shows.

Businessman Herman Cain (20 percent), Texas Rep. Ron Paul (19 percent), former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (18 percent) and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (17 percent) are statistically tied for the top slot in the state that will hold the first caucuses in the nation on Jan. 3. The poll, conducted Nov. 10-12, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.

Support for Cain, who continues to battle allegations of past sexual harassment, slipped by just three percentage points since the Des Moines Register released its poll of likely caucus-goers on Oct. 29, but Gingrich has surged from single digits to the top tier in this new round of polling.

Enthusiasm for Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who led nationally for several weeks, remains stagnant in Iowa. As in the Register survey, Perry was unable to escape the the second tier of candidates in the state at just seven percent.

These numbers, however, could still fluctuate before January. According to the poll, six in 10 said they would be open to changing their top choice and ten percent were still undecided, a sign that victory in Iowa is still for the taking.

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