Weigel

Iowa and New Hampshire Polls: Falling Newt, Rising Huntsman

DES MOINES – Rasmussen Reports returns from Iowa with the third robo-poll suggesting that Newt Gingrich has taken on water. (American Research Group, which Nate Silver has done a good job proving the flimsiness of, was the first pollster. PPP was the second.)

Mitt Romney - 23% (+4)
Newt Gingrich - 20% (-12)
Ron Paul - 18% (+8)
Rick Perry - 10% (+4)
Michele Bachmann - 9% (+3)
Rick Santorum - 6% (+1)
Jon Huntsman - 5% (+3)

The Huntsman number is the baffler: The man hasn’t competed in Iowa at all, and wasn’t even in the last Iowa debate.* And the Suffolk University poll in New Hampshire is more ominous for Romney, largely because of the Huntsman number.

Mitt Romney - 38% (-3)
Newt Gingrich - 20% (+6)
Jon Huntsman - 13% (+4)
Ron Paul - 8% (-6)
Michele Bachmann - 3% (+2)
Rick Santorum - 2% (-1)
Buddy Roemer - 2% (+1)
Rick Perry - 1% (-1)
Gary Johnson - 1% (+0)

Romney’s number is the lowest it’s been since June, and you can see the space for some kind of messy finish if Gingrich wins Iowa and Huntsman’s crazy scheme to bring out independent voters actually comes off.

*He’s in tonight’s debate. I was wrong about whether Huntsman was part of tonight’s debate. In my defense, so was the Drudge Report.