The August 11, 2007 win of the Ames Straw Poll with 31% of the vote has boosted not only republican contender Mitt Romney's confidence, but also his poll numbers. According to data compiled on the USA Election Polls website, his numbers have shot up in Iowa as well as in Georgia, where he is now reaching double digits. The same is true for California and Missouri, which is in some way indicative of the way the republican voters are seeing the rest of the field. Granted, Rudy Giuliani is still considered by many a hands down favorite, but Mitt Romney is crystallizing as an important force that may propel him into the vice presidential spot, should the nod for the nomination be given to someone else.
Perhaps most important to those who will determine Romney's fate is the fact that his numbers improved across the board. Polling data suggests that in southern states he went from 4% in January to 8.7% in August, while in western states he went from 7.5% to 18% in the same time frame. Similarly, he is increasing his share in both red and blue states, showing that his appeal is almost universal.
Yet Mr. Romney will need to make sure that he does not rest on his laurels for too long; foreign policy is undoubtedly at the heart of many a debate from here on out, and seeing how well he did in the straw poll, the odds are good that he will now become a target for those trying to trip up contenders in their own word. While he differs greatly from the diplomatic track that Barack Obama is attempting to sell the voters, Romney's talk about a special partnership force is considered to be problematic by some who are concerned that yet another governmental agency adding to the letter soup of agencies already not talking with one another will simply create more problems than it can solve.
> View the online archive of the latest 2008 presidential polls.
