Perry slumps, Cain surges

Just over six weeks into his Presidential campaign, the sheen is coming off Rick Perry. Having entered the race as the favourite, he quickly established a double-digit lead over the rest of the Republican field. But now, especially after the candidates’ latest debate last week, the momentum has shifted.

Here, to illustrate Perry’s fall, is yesterday’s Fox News poll, compared to their previous one, conducted a month ago:

As you can see, the drop in support for Perry has not led to much of an increase for his main rival, Mitt Romney. Instead, the biggest beneficiary has been Herman Cain, who has leapt from 6 per cent a month ago to 17 per cent now. That puts him in third place, just two points behind Perry and six behind Romney. Both of the other polls conducted since the last debate (by CNN and YouGov) also show big gains for Cain.