For months Mitt Romney’s success in early polling in Iowa was attributed to the former Massachusetts governor sinking lots of money into ads in the state. Now, less than 2 months from the caucuses, Romney’s lead is as strong as ever, and his nearest competitor is one of the least funded candidates in the race—Mike Huckabee.

The latest Zogby poll, conducted November 6-7 of 410 likely Republican caucus voters, measures Romney’s support at 31 percent, about twice as much as Huckabee’s 15 percent. Rudy Giuliani comes in third with 11 percent, continuing a decline in support among Hawkeye state caucus voters: Zogby measured Giuliani’s support at 25 percent in March, 18 percent in May, and 14 percent in August.

Rounding out the rest of the Republican field are Fred Thompson at 10 percent, John McCain at 8 percent, Ron Paul at 4 percent, Tom Tancredo at 3 percent, and Duncan Hunter at 1 percent. Sixteen percent were undecided.

Nearly all political pundits still predict Giuliani will be the GOP nominee (save the University of Virginia’s Larry Sabato, who predicted Romney last month), despite the large leads Romney has opened up in both Iowa and New Hampshire—the first two states in which voting will occur. Romney is also polling ahead of his rivals in the latest South Carolina survey (American Research Group)—another important early primary state.

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