Poll: Romney, Paul in virtual tie in Iowa

DES MOINES, Iowa, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Republican presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney and Ron Paul are in a virtual dead heat just days before the Iowa caucuses, a Marist-NBC News poll indicated.

Romney leads the poll of likely Iowa caucus-goers with 23 percent, followed by Paul with 21 percent as Iowa prepares for Tuesday's first-in-the-country caucuses, results released Friday indicated.

However, results also indicated former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Texas Gov. Rick Perry surged to within striking distance of Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, and Paul, a congressman from Texas.

Santorum garnered 15 percent support for third, followed by Perry at 14 percent.

"There has been a lot of movement in the past month," Dr. Lee M. Miringoff, director of The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., said in a release. "This is a contest that is very unsettled."

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has seen his popularity slip after leading the pack a month ago, was in fifth at 13 percent. U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, who has invested a lot of time in Iowa, picked up 6 percent.

Political observers in Iowa have been watching Santorum, Perry and Bachmann because evangelical voters in Iowa haven't yet rallied around one candidate, Marist pollsters said.

Results are based on interviews with 3,223 adults in Iowa conducted Tuesday and Wednesday. The margin of error for the total sample is 1.7 percentage points.