By Dave Andrusko

Republican Presidential candidates at the Dartmouth debate

Talk about a rollercoaster ride. The latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll finds that among Republican voters, businessman Herman Cain has assumed the top spot garnering 27%.

Close behind is former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (23%) and Texas Gov. Rick Perry (16%). The reminder of the field finds  Rep. Ron Paul  (11%), former  Speaker Newt Gingrich (8%), Rep. Michele Bachmann (5%), and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman (3%).

It is the second poll this week that showed Cain at the top. The first came from a Democrat-leaning Public Policy Polling whose survey found Cain at 30%, Romney at 22%, Gingrich at 15%, Perry at 14%, Reps. Bachmann and Paul at 5%, Huntsman at 2%, and former Senator Rick Santorum at 1%

The NBC/Wall Street Journal poll was conducted by Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart and Republican pollster Bill McInturff

“In the previous survey, conducted in late August, Perry led the field at 38 percent, Romney stood at 23 percent, while Cain was at only 5 percent,” according to Mark Murray, NBC News’s Deputy political director.

Some of the highlights include

·         At the same time Hart was saying, “Cain is the leader … That’s the story,” McInturff was cautioning that this is not likely to be the last shakeup in the field, adding, “There is still a long, long, long time to go.”

·         “Despite Cain’s rise and Perry’s fall over the past month and a half, Romney’s standing in the Republican horse race hasn’t changed—it was 23 percent in August, and it’s unchanged at 23 percent now,” Murray writes.

·         “Cain’s numbers are sky-high among Republican primary voters,” Murray writes. “Fifty-two percent view him favorably, versus just 6 percent who see him unfavorably. Among Tea Party supporters, his favorable/unfavorable score is 69 percent to 5 percent. And among Republicans who identify themselves as ‘very conservative,’ it’s 72 percent to 2 percent.”  However,  “that doesn’t mean that Romney is unappealing to Republican voters. His favorable/unfavorable score is 51 percent to 16 percent, which is in the ballpark of Cain’s. Among Tea Party supporters, it’s 55 percent to 20 percent, and among “very conservative” Republicans, it’s 60 percent to 19 percent.”

·         The poll asked about hypothetical matchups between pro-abortion President Barack Obama and the GOP candidates. “President Barack Obama leads Romney by two points, 46 percent to 44 percent, which is virtually unchanged from August,” Murray writes. “Against Cain, Obama enjoys an 11 point advantage, 49 percent to 38 percent. And against Perry, the president is up by 12 points, 51 percent to 39 percent.”

In addition, CNN today produced what it called a “Poll of Polls” of the Republican race, an average of the last four national surveys. Those included the new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, ,the Washington Post/Bloomberg Poll, the Reuters/Ipsos Poll and the Gallup poll – -all of which were conducted last week.

Again Cain showed upward movement (“Talk about going from zero to 60 in no time,” according to CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser). He trails Romney by only 3% –23% to 20%. Perry is at 14%, Paul at 10%, Gingrich at 6%,  Bachmann at 5%, and Santorum and Huntsman at 2%

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