Des Moines Register Polls Iowa Republicans

Mitt Romney has said he will not be competing in the Iowa Straw Poll coming up in early August, and may actually skip the Iowa caucuses early in 2012 to concentrate on the New Hampshire primary. He is thinking he would have a better chance to do well in New Hampshire because the Iowa caucuses is better suited to one of the fundamentalist social values candidates.

But a recent poll by the Des Moines Register shows that could be a mistake for Romney. This poll shows if the caucuses were held right now, Romney (and Bachmann) would come out of it with nearly a quarter of the delegates from that state (about 23%). And that's about what he would do in New Hampshire (with a recent poll showing him at 27% there). Here are the current Iowa numbers:

Mitt Romney...............23%
Michele Bachmann...............22%
Herman Cain...............10%
Ron Paul...............7%
Newt Gingrich...............7%
Tim Pawlenty...............6%
Rick Santorum...............4%
Jon Huntsman...............2%

Sarah Palin was not included in the poll because she has not announced as a candidate or done anything yet that would make it seem she was about to announce. The real loser in this poll is Tim Pawlenty. Even though he is from a Midwest state and has campaigned heavily in Iowa (having been there more than 20 times already), he could not get above 6% (even finishing behind the imploded candidacy of Gingrich). He just doesn't seem to be able to get any traction in this campaign, and I'm starting to wonder just why he's still considered a serious candidate by many of the pundits.