Herman Cain takes the lead in CBS/NY Times poll
Herman Cain has taken the lead in the most recent presidential poll by CBS and The New York Times. In this photo Cain speaks to a gathering of conservative Christians at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition Presidential Forum on Oct. 22, 2011, in Des Moines, Iowa.
GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain has held onto his support among primary voters, passing Mitt Romney to take the lead in the latest CBS/NY Times poll.
According to the poll released Tuesday, Cain garnered 25 percent of the vote, a giant leap from the 5 percent of voters who chose him in September. Romney received the second highest amount of voters with 21 percent.
The margin of error for the poll was plus or minus four percentage points, however, so the result of the poll could be considered a tie, according to NPR.
Cain’s biggest bloc of supporters identified as conservative Tea Party supporters and gave him 32 percent of the vote, 14 points ahead of second-place Romney.
More: Cain campaign connected to Kochs
The poll is also something of a check on the narrative that the air is starting to come out of Cain's campaign. The survey was taken between Oct. 19 and 24 — after the debate last week and during a period of time when Cain was getting beaten up over a number of gaffes on abortion and other subjects.
Newt Gingrich took third in the poll with 10 percent of the vote and Ron Paul followed with 8 percent, Politico reports.
More: Video: Cain sings pizza-themed version of "Imagine"
Support for Texas Gov. Rick Perry has steeply declined in the past few weeks. Perry took the lead in the polls in mid-September, but a series of missteps has placed him in fifth-place with only 6 percentage points.
According to CBS, the poll was conducted among 1,650 adults who plan to vote in the Republican primary.
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