Iowa Republicans: Romney Seen As Most Mainstream Candidate, Paul Most Extreme

Texas Congressman Ron Paul is the only Republican presidential candidate that a majority of likely Iowa Republican Caucus voters describe as having extreme views, while Mitt Romney is considered the candidate that is most mainstream.

A Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of those likely to participate in the Iowa GOP Caucus shows that 64% believe it would be more accurate to describe former Massachusetts Governor Romney’s views as mainstream, while only 16% see his views as extreme. Another 20% aren’t sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Only 29% of GOP voters in Iowa would describe Paul’s views as mainstream, while a majority (52%) sees his views as extreme. Another 20% are undecided.

Texas Governor Rick Perry and Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann are both viewed as being generally mainstream by 50% of likely Caucus voters. But only 27% describe Perry’s views as extreme, while 34% say that of Bachmann’s. While 23% of voters are not sure about Perry, who more recently entered the race, just 15% are undecided about Bachmann.

Perry has moved into first place among Republican voters in Iowa, host state to the first-in-the-nation caucus early next year. Essentially tied for second are Bachmann at 18% and former Romney at 17%. Paul picks up 14% of the vote, and nobody else currently reaches the five percent (5%) mark.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls).   Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

The survey of 862 Likely Iowa Republican Caucus Participants was conducted on August 31, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.