A new Iowa poll fuels speculation about who benefits from Mitt Romney’s decision not to run. Republicans support government action on climate change. And a prominent market researcher thinks we should stop asking for the margin of error. This is HuffPollster for Monday, February 2, 2015.
IOWA POLL SHOWS WALKER, PAUL LEAD DIVIDED GOP – “John McCormick and MIchael Bender: “Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is surging, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush is an also-ran and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is dominating in a new poll of Iowans likely to vote in the nation’s first presidential nominating contest. The Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register Iowa Poll, taken Monday through Thursday, shows Walker leading a wide-open Republican race with 15 percent, up from just 4 percent in the same poll in October. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky was at 14 percent and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who won the Iowa caucuses in 2008, stood at 10 percent. Bush trailed with 8 percent and increasingly is viewed negatively by likely Republican caucus-goers. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is in even worse shape, with support from just 4 percent. More troubling for Christie: He’s viewed unfavorably by 54 percent, among the highest negative ratings in the potential field. At 9 percent, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson pulls more support than either Bush or Christie.” [Bloomberg]
Clinton dominates among Democrats – More from McCormick and Bender: “On the Democratic side, the race among potential candidates isn’t competitive. Clinton was the first choice of 56 percent. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who has repeatedly said she isn’t running, stands second at 16 percent. Vice President Joe Biden had only about half as much support as Warren, with 9 percent.”
Beyond the horserace – Jennifer Jacobs: “Look at the extremes in the favorability ratings for clues about what the future might hold, [former Romney deputy campaign manager Katie Packer] Gage said. It’s bad news for Trump: 32 percent say their opinion of him is ‘very’ unfavorable, the worst in the bunch. Christie’s number is the next worst, with 22 percent who view him very negatively, and Bush is next, at 18 percent. In contrast, Walker has the highest percentage saying they feel “very” positively about him — 32 percent. No one else tops 30 percent on that score. ‘The passion is in the ‘very favorable’ and ‘very unfavorable,’ ‘ Gage said. ‘Everyone else is movable.'” [Des Moines Register]
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-Jonathan Bernstein says smart presidential candidates don’t skip Iowa. [Bloomberg]
-Shibley Telhami probes how Americans really feel about Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. [WashPost]
-Katy Perry is more popular than any of the Patriots or Seahawks. [YouGov]
