NPR: Huckabee Continues Climb in National, Iowa Polls

Huckabee Continues Climb in National, Iowa Polls

Tuesday morning, as I was leaving my hotel in Des Moines, Iowa to go to NPR's Democratic candidates debate, I found myself alone in the elevator with former Arkansas Governor (and GOP presidential hopeful) Mike Huckabee. He introduced himself, shook my hand, and then we had a short conversation during the 25-floor ride down to the lobby.

Who knows, one day I might be able to tell my children about the time I rode in the elevator with a president.

Mind you, it's a long way to go before Huckabee might become president. First, he has to become the presidential nominee of the Republican Party. Today he received more positive signals about that goal.

A new national Associated Press/Ipsos poll shows that Huckabee has moved into second-place in the GOP race, and is "hot on the heels" of front-runner former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

The poll showed Giuliani with the support of 26 percent of those surveyed, while Huckabee has 18 percent. He replaced former Sen. Fred Thompson in the second spot, as Thompson's campaign continues to slide. Sen. John McCain is now in third place with 13 percent, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney next with 12, and then Thompson with 11. (Although the margin of error of 5.1 percent among Republicans surveyed means the three are in a statistical dead heat.)

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton continues to lead, but has fallen back below the 50-percent marker. She leads Barack Obama 45 percent to 23 percent, with John Edwards at 12 percent.

Update: A new Newsweek Iowa poll of 1,408 registered voters on Dec. 5 and 6 shows that Huckabee now has a two-to-one lead over Romney. (One NPR producer told me her jaw dropped when she saw the results of this poll.)

Huckabee now leads 39 percent to 17 percent over Romney among likely GOP caucus-goers. In the last Newsweek poll, taken in September, Romney was at 25 percent and Huckabee at six. "He's filling a vacuum," says Larry Hugick, who directed the polling for Princeton Survey Research Associates. "Nobody on the Republican side was getting strong support."

4:28 PM ET | 12- 7-2007 | permalink

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