WASHINGTON — It’s good to be Mitt Romney.
As his rivals for the GOP presidential nomination stumbled into scandals and debate meltdowns, Romney bounded ahead as the undisputed front-runner, a poll revealed yesterday.
The former Massachusetts governor extended his share of the vote to a solid 28 percent — and nearly half of all Republican voters expect him to capture the nomination, a Reuters-Ipsos poll showed.
Romney’s lead is now a full 8 points ahead of his closest rival, Herman Cain, who spent the past two weeks fending off allegations that he sexually harassed as many as four women in the 1990s.
Romney topped Cain by just 5 points in the same survey a week ago.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich also gained ground in the poll, surging up to 16 percent with support from conservative voters still not sold on Romney. Gingrich, who has been steadily climbing in national polls, finished third, with 16 percent.
And Texas Gov. Rick Perry once again had a lackluster finish.
He came in fourth place with 12 percent in the poll, which was conducted just after his debate disaster Wednesday, when he could remember only two of the three federal agencies he had vowed to eliminate.