GOP Insiders Near-Unanimous in Predicting Romney Nomination - Hotline On Call

The large Republican presidential field, along with the dramatic surges and collapses of several of its candidates, may ultimately be much ado about nothing. That, at least, is the conclusion of the Republican strategists surveyed in this week's National Journal Political Insiders Poll, who almost unanimously identified Mitt Romney as the most likely candidate to win the nomination. In the five times the GOP Insiders have been asked that question in 2011, Romney has never surrendered the top spot.

Rank the top five candidates, 1 through 5, in terms of who you think is most likely to capture the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.
Republicans
(105 votes)
CANDIDATE INSIDERS INDEX SCORE*
Mitt Romney 98
Rick Perry 72
Herman Cain 47
Newt Gingrich 31
Rick Santorum 13
Jon Huntsman 11
Michele Bachmann 7
Ron Paul 5
*Methodology: In tallying the rankings, a first-place vote was worth 5 points, a second-place vote was worth 4 points, and so on. The Insiders Index reflects the percentage of points that each contender received out of the maximum possible. For example, Mitt Romney scored an Index rating of 98, meaning he received 98 percent of the possible 525 points, the number he would have if all 105 participants in the poll this week had ranked him first.



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