Herman Cain's rise through the Republican field continued Wednesday, as a new national poll found the former businessman tied with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for first place in the latest CBS News poll.
Cain and Romney both earned the support of 17 percent of American voters — a rise of 12 percentage points for Cain compared to two weeks ago. His support seems to have come almost entirely to the detriment of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who nearly halved his number of supporters, falling 11 percentage points from 23 percent to 12 percent.
The poll reiterated the conventional wisdom: that Perry's shaky debate performances were souring his prospects within the party. Eight in 10 Republican voters said that the candidates' debate performances were at least somewhat important to them, while nearly six in 10 of those polled said they had already watched the debates that had taken place.