Rudy Giuliani is no longer the Republican frontrunner. Mormon hopeful Mitt Romney has caught up with him on the national stage, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.
The former NYC mayor and Romney are tied at 20% in the poll, just ahead of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at 17% and Sen. John McCain at 14%.
The Journal said the new poll shows that the party’s 2008 nomination is its most competitive battle in decades.
On the Democratic side, Sen. Hillary Clinton still has a sizable lead over Sen. Barack Obama. She captured 45% of the Democratic vote, while Obama came in 23%. Both fell slightly from a November poll.
Giuliani has tumbled from a high of 38% in the poll earlier this year, which the Journal blamed on unfavorable publicity about his personal life, security business and relationship with former police commissioner Bernard Kerik. Just 35% of Republican voters said Giuliani had “high personal standards that set the proper moral tone for the country,” the Journal said.