Governor Scott Walker delivers his fifth state of the state address. 1/13/15 (PHOTO: Jackie Johnson)
The Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register Iowa Poll released Saturday night put Governor Scott Walker ahead of all other potential Republican presidential candidates, at 15 percent. That’s up from just 4 percent in the same poll taken back in October.
In the survey of 402 likely Republican caucus attendees, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky took a close second, at 14 percent. Former Massachusetts Governor and 2012 Republican Party nominee Mitt Romney came in third, at 13 percent, but he announced on Friday that he wouldn’t try for a third time to win a bid for the White House. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee came in third, at 10 percent.
Ben Carson polled higher than a couple other big names in politics. The retired neurosurgeon received 9 percent of the votes — more than former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who pulled in just 8 percent and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who saw only 4 percent. Five percent of those polled weren’t sure who they’d vote for in the 2016 presidential election.
The poll was conducted January 26-29, just after Walker and other conservatives spoke at the Iowa Freedom Summit in Des Moines.