Walker keeps lead among likely Iowa Republican caucusgoers; Trump in second

CEDAR RAPIDS - Bobby Jindal isn't at the top a new survey of likely GOP caucusgoers, but the Louisiana governor's campaign says it shows he is rising faster in the polls than any other candidate for the party's 2016 presidential nomination.

A Monmouth University Poll released Monday found Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker continues to be the favorite with 22 percent of respondents listing him as their first choice. Donald Trump was second at 13 percent.

They were followed by retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson (8 percent), former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (7 percent), Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas (7 percent), 2008 Iowa caucus winner Mike Huckabee (6 percent), Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida (5 percent), Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky (5 percent) and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (4 percent). The others were at 3 percent or less.

Walker is placing a lot of emphasis on Iowa in his campaign to win the GOP nomination. He just finished a three-day post-announcement tour of the state, and he has led in a number of polls in the state.

'Walker has been a favorite of Iowa voters ever since his well-received appearance at the Iowa Freedom summit in January,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, which is in West Long Branch, New Jersey.

The poll said that Walker led among tea party, ideological and evangelical voters.

For the Jindal campaign, the poll was verification of what they have been seeing as the governor campaigned in Iowa last week, including his appearance before about 2,500 social conservatives at The Family Leadership Summit in Ames Saturday.

Jindal has a 59 percent to 12 percent favorable image rating and his favorability rating jumped 10 percentage points from a Quinnipiac University Poll June 29.

'Jindal's image has enjoyed the most improvement in the field and outpaced that of every other candidate,” according to Wes Anderson, whose OnMessage firm polls for Jindal.

That's important because 'it's usually true that ballot follows image. In my experience, 80 percent of the time or more if your image is climbing the ballot will follow.”

Jindal spokesman said the campaign has seen crowd size and enthusiasm growing as the governor has campaigned across Iowa.

Based on his 22 years in polling, Anderson said that when you begin to see a 'groundswell on the ground it is more common than not it will be reflected in the data.”

'So it doesn't surprise me we see a significant jump in image given what we see on the ground in Iowa,” he said. If Jindal continues that momentum 'the translation to ballot support will pick up steam.”

The rise in image may be due, in part of TV advertising by a super PAC supporting Jindal, Anderson. 'Common sense would say that has certainly helped. It couldn't hurt.”

Trump, who has been able to maneuver himself into the second spot in Iowa, did not appear to damage himself with his controversial comment Saturday that 2008 GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain is considered a war hero only 'because he was captured.”

The pollsters noted that in interviews conducted Thursday and Friday, Trump got 13 percent of the vote, compared with 19 percent for Walker. He continued to get 13 percent in Saturday and Sunday interviews, compared with 25 percent for Walker, the poll said.

The poll sampled the opinions of 452 registered Republicans who voted in at least one of the last two state primary elections and indicated they were likely to attend the caucuses next February.

The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.6 percentage points. The margin of error for individual days is higher.

Ed Tibbetts of the Quad City Times contributed to this report.