Poll: Conservatives Stand With Cain on Issues

Influential conservatives in three powerful early primary states agree overwhelmingly with businessman Herman Cain's stances on the issues, but are unsure whether he can win the GOP primary.

The latest HuffPo/ Patch Power Outsiders Poll found that 92 percent of conservatives polled in South Carolina, Iowa and New Hampshire side with Cain on the issues. That's much higher than other candidates polled (former Gov. Mitt Romney at 80 percent comes in next).

And 74 percent of those polled believe Cain can beat President Barack Obama next November in the general election, which is on par with other HuffPo/ Patch polls.

But only 60 percent of respondents said they believe Cain can win the Republican nomination, which does call into question how much support our influential conservatives believe he can muster.

In one of our favorite poll questions, we asked conservatives to describe Cain in one word (see word cloud above). Seventy-four percent of responses were clearly positive words, led by "leader," "charismatic," "likeable" and "impressive."

Our poll comes on the that shows Cain leading a very tight race for the South Carolina GOP primary, scheduled for Jan. 21.