A pro-Rick Perry super PAC, Make US Great Again, released poll results Thursday that shows it candidate in good shape heading into the first-in-the-nation caucuses in Iowa.
According to the poll, conducted by Wilson Perkins Allen Opinion Research on behalf of the super PAC, Perry leads in Iowa with 23 percent of the vote. Michele Bachmann the poll found to be at 20 percent and Mitt Romney at 16 percent. Ron Paul, who received second place in the Ames Straw Poll, is a distant fourth with just nine percent of the vote.
Perry has also unseated Bachmann as the favorite among “very conservative” caucus goers, 30 percent of whom say they would vote for Perry, compared to 23 percent for Bachmann and 10 percent for Herman Cain.
Among self-identified tea partiers, Perry does equally well getting 30 percent of the vote to Bachmann’s 22 percent.
Perry’s record of job creation as governor of Texas has positioned him as Romney’s greatest opponent, according to the poll. The poll also found Iowa caucus goers trust Perry with the economy more than Romney, despite the latter’s business background. When voters were asked who would be the best at improving the economy and creating jobs out of Bachmann, Romney, and Perry, 38 percent said Perry, 27 percent Romney and 18 percent Bachmann.
Iowa voters also see Perry as the most capable of defeating President Barack Obama in a general election. Of those polled, 41 percent said he would have the best chance, while 24 percent said Romney would and 13 percent said Bachmann would. (RELATED: Romney’s awkward ‘senior moment’)
The results are similar to those of a Public Policy Polling survey conducted from August 19 to August 21, which found Perry leading the Republican field with 22 percent of the vote, compared to 19 percent for Mitt Romney and 18 percent for Michele Bachmann.
The poll is based on a survey of 402 likely Iowa Republican caucus goers “identified by first selecting a sample of previous Iowa Republican primary voters, as well as new Republican registrants since the 2010 primary and then asking a self-selection question to screen out those who do not plan to participate in the caucus process,” according to the release. The survey was conducted using live telephone interviews from August 21 through August 22, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.