Romney, Cain tie for lead in GOP nomination race

The race for the U.S. Republican presidential nomination has gone through major changes in recent weeks, with businessman Herman Cain rocketing to the top tier to tie former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney while Texas Governor Rick Perry dropped to a distant third, a new national poll showed Monday. Twenty-six percent of Republican voters and Republican-leaning independents say they are likely to support Romney, up four points from September, according to the CNN/ORC International Poll. Cain, the former Godfather's Pizza CEO and radio talk show host, has seen his support nearly triple, from 9 percent in September to 25 percent. CNN Polling Director Keating Holland attributed Cain's rapid rise to strong support from tea partiers, as 39 percent of the group back him, more than double the number who support Romney. Cain might also have benefited from voters' retreated support for Perry, who quickly surged to the top of the national polls since joining the race in August but declined dramatically in recent weeks. The new CNN poll showed that only 13 percent of those surveyed say they would like Perry to be their party's nominee, half of that in September. This was only the latest poll to demonstrate Perry's decline, which came after several uneven performances in Republican presidential debates, as well as continuous attack by other candidates on issues like illegal immigration and Social Security. However, the Republican presidential race is far from over, as most voters say they have not made up their minds. According to the poll, only one third of Republican voters and Republican- leaning independents say they will definitely support the candidate they are currently backing, with two thirds saying they may change their minds.