The latest
Monmouth University poll showing three outsiders leading in Iowa is evidence that Republican voters are angry, but that support will drop as the race moves on, pollster John Zogby tells
Newsmax TV.
The polls shows retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson tied with businessman Donald Trump at 23 percent. Businesswoman Carly Fiorina is third with 10 percent.
"It's 56 percent just for those three candidates," Zogby said Monday on "Newsmax Prime." The three represent a none-of-the-above option to voters waiting for a more electable candidate to emerge, he said.
Zogby compared the surge of Trump — and Carson — to that of Democrat Howard Dean in 2004. In December 2003 Dean was leading in New Hampshire by 36 points, but all was lost after the famous "Dean Scream" following his third-place finish in Iowa.
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Right before the Iowa Caucuses, two out of three Democrats were saying, "We want somebody who stands on their principles and says what he means, means what he says," Zogby said. "The closer we got to the actual caucuses that flipped, so that 2-to-1 Democrats were then saying right after the New Year, 'We want somebody who can beat George W. Bush.' You saw Dean's numbers go down each day you saw John Kerry's and John Edwards' go up."
The same thing will happen as the Iowa vote approaches, Zogby said, with more mainstream candidates rising to the top.
Presidential historian Craig Shirley attributed the rise of Trump, Carson and Fiorina to Republican voters "throwing off the last shackles of Bush-ism and the establishment … and going back to its Reagan Goldwater populist roots."
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, initially considered the front-runner, will have trouble coming back, Shirley said, because he lacks a signature issue.
"As a matter of fact, all the issues identified with him are negative," Shirley said. "They harken back to memories of his brother and his father."
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