It once looked as if Iowa was Scott Walker’s to lose.
It now looks like that might be slipping away.
Early this year, Walker was leading the pack of Republicans in Iowa, winning as much as 25 percent of the vote in some polls.
But in recent weeks, as Donald Trump has risen in the polls, that lead has disappeared. And it continues to get worse for the governor in what has been viewed as a must-win state for him.
A CNN poll released Wednesday indicates that Walker has fallen to third place in Iowa, with just nine percent of the vote. Trump has 22 percent of the vote, followed by Ben Carson — whose numbers in Iowa are going up — with 14 percent of the vote.
The Walker campaign, in a statement to The Daily Caller, says they are in a strong positon in Iowa, referencing the ground operation the campaign is building there.
“Governor Walker continues to connect with voters in Iowa and was pleased to recently announce the first 65 members of his state leadership team, which includes more than one-third of the state’s senate Republicans, six state representatives and numerous other current and former elected officials, business leaders, and party activists,” said spokeswoman AshLee Strong. “He will continue talking about his record of reform in Wisconsin with Iowans and Americans across the country.”
For Carson, a former neurosurgeon, 14 percent in the CNN survey is the best he has performed in an Iowa poll.
In the CNN poll, Ted Cruz comes in at eight percent, Carly Fiorina at seven percent, Mike Huckabee at seven percent, Jeb Bush at five percent, Rand Paul at five percent, Marco Rubio at five percent, Chris Christie at three percent, Lindsey Graham at two percent, Bobby Jindal at two percent, John Kasich at two percent, Rick Perry at one percent and Rick Santorum at one percent.
Neither Trump nor Carson, the only two Republicans in double digits in Iowa, have ever served in public office before.