Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin continued their run at the top of GOP primary field nationally, according to a new PPP poll of registered voters released Thursday. But now that some other big-name Republicans have taken themselves out of the contest, a few candidates with lower profiles have suddenly — and significantly — closed the gap between themselves and the frontrunners.
In the poll, Palin and Romney tied for the lead at 16%. However, Tim Pawlenty (13%) and Herman Cain (12%) both polled within the survey’s 4.1% margin of error.
That’s a big change from just three weeks ago, when PPP’s national poll showed Pawlenty running at just 5%. That poll didn’t even include Herman Cain, who has also suddenly burst onto the scene now that the paired down field has afforded him some breathing room.
The big shakeups were caused by the departures of Donald Trump and Mike Huckabee in mid-May. In the previous PPP poll, Huckabee led all comers at 19%, while Trump took 8%.
Also from the latest poll, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, and Michele Bachmann tied for fifth place at 9%. Jon Huntsman brought up the rear at 4%.
The PPP poll was conducted May 23-25 among 574 Republican registered voters. It has a margin of error of 4.1%.
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