Cain Leapfrogs Romney to Vault to Lead in Poll

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What a difference a few debates can make.

Herman Cain’s star has risen steadily in the past two months, from a largely unknown CEO running for president to a top-tier candidate in the Republican field for 2012 — and now voters even rank him above the presumed front-runner, Mitt Romney, in a poll released Wednesday evening.

As GOP voters grow disenchanted with Texas Gov. Rick Perry and remain wary of Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, Cain, a onetime radio-show host and former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, catapulted into the lead in the Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.

Drawn by Cain’s blunt, folksy style in recent debates, 27 percent of Republican primary voters picked him as their first choice for the nomination, a jump of 22 percentage points from six weeks ago.

Romney held firm in second place at 23 percent, his same share as in a Journal poll in late August, while Perry plummeted to 16 percent, from 38 percent in August.

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