Most Republican candidates losing . . . to Obama . . . among Republicans

by folkbum

I picked this up via Steve Benen, who points out a University of Iowa poll released just ahead of the olympian Ames Straw Poll. Just watch:

Statewide Registered Republican Voters

The changes among Republican voters since March are dramatic. Romney is now the preferred candidate at 21.8 percent--double his March support.

Giuliani's support, 10 percent, decreased by almost 8.5 percent. McCain's support has collapsed in Iowa. His support among registered Republicans dropped from 14.4 percent in March to 1.8 percent in July-August. UI political scientists note that McCain has been passed in popularity not only by former Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., who earned 5.2 percent support, but also by a Democratic challenger, Obama, who is supported by 6.7 percent of Republicans. No other candidate received more than 3 percent support.

Iowa Republicans prefer, in order, Romney, Giuliani, Obama. All the other Republicans--including both Thompsons, Tommy! and ImWIthFred--are losing to Barack Obama. Add in the results for Clinton and Richardson (.pdf) in that poll, and you've got more than 10% of Iowa Republicans supporting Democrats.

I'm still not making up my mind--I still believe all the Democrats are good, and I still believe my February 19th vote will be pointless--so I probably shouldn't point out the poll's "undecided" number, which is at 35% among Iowa Republicans. That means, if you're counting, nearly half of Iowa Republicans either can't commit to a Republican candidate or prefer a Democrat instead.

(On the flipside, not a single Republican gets more than 1% support from the Democratic sample in the poll. Only 23% of Dems are undecided.)

(UPDATE: The same good people who bring you WisPolitics.com bring you IowaPolitics.com, including a poll watch feature, so you can keep up on all the fun news like this.)