Romney Reclaims Top Spot While Perry Falls and Cain Rises

Mitt Romney reclaimed his front-runner status as Rick Perry fell to second place and Herman Cain tripled his support base, rising to third place in a new poll released today.

The FOX News phone poll found Romney claimed the support of 23 percent of Republican primary voters while Perry garnered 19 percent of support, a 10-point drop since FOX’s last poll at the end of August. Texas Gov. Perry has sat atop presidential polls, but the poll released today delivers his first second-place status since entering the presidential race six weeks ago.

Herman Cain reached the third-place slot after claiming 17 percent, an 11-point jump since August.

The 925-person poll was conducted Sept. 25-27, days after Perry’s shaky performance at the FOX News debate and Cain’s unexpected win in the Florida Straw Poll.  CNN/ORC released the first poll after the political weekend in Florida Monday, which still showed Perry at the top of the field with 28 percent of support and Romney at 21 percent.

Rounding out the bottom of the FOX poll are Newt Gingrich at 11 percent, Ron Paul at 6 percent, Jon Huntsman at 4 percent, and Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum at 3 percent each. Bachmann dropped 8 percentage points since the last FOX News poll in August, weeks after her win at the Ames Iowa Straw Poll.

When asked if New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, whom the poll described as a “strong leader and a straight talker,” should run for president, only 32 percent of respondents said he should run while 39 percent said no, and 28 percent said they were undecided.

As for Donald Trump’s influence on voters in the 2012 race, only six percent said they’d be more likely to vote for a candidate based on a Trump endorsement, with the majority, 62 percent, saying the Trump’s opinion wouldn’t a make a difference on their vote.