Which Republican Candidate Will Win Iowa?

Mitt Romney has dealt with the issue of being a Mormon by trying to have it looked at it from the perspective of it being just a different doctrine, not a cult. He hopes that Iowans will look at his values and see them as being more important than his faith. Recently, he has vowed if elected he would withdraw financial and diplomatic support from the United Nation's Human Rights Council.

Romney believes that health insurance plans for the uninsured should be state controlled instead of controlled by the federal government. He supports Bush's decisions on the war in Iraq and believes we should send in more troops. Although he doesn't come out and say that he supports the idea of a draft, he thinks that young people should serve in the military.

He is opposed to gay marriage and strongly supports having a federal marriage amendment that will define what a national standard is for marriage. He intends to devise a plan to pay down the national debt without raising taxes and many believe that he can since he has been so successful in the private sector. Iowans seem to agree with Romney and his ideas as he is the favorite, leading in the latest Iowa poll standings at 27% according to usaelectionpolls.com.

Although he started off very high in the polls at almost 25%, Rudy Giuliani is now at 13% in the latest polls. While Romney's standings have sky-rocketed, Giuliani's have drastically declined since February. It could be due to his support of permanent residency for illegal immigrants or because of his lack of participation in the straw poll. While it sounds appealing, Guiliani believes that health care shouldn't be government controlled.

Mike Huckabee started off low in the polls when he launched his exploratory committee, but his popularity took an abrupt turn when he announced he was running for president and has been steadily increasing. His standing in the latest poll is at 12%, just barely under Giuliani. His popularity could increase even more and may be due to his recent strong campaigning across Iowa. Huckabee coming in second in the straw poll also indicates this. He strongly advocates the FairTax proposal saying that it will encourage American companies to bring jobs back to America from oversees. Several of his comical remarks towards immigration and other issues have gained him national attention.

Fred Thompson has been slightly up and down in the polls since he announced his plan to run for president. However, the actor and politician has maintained at about 10%. He hasn't taken a stand on many issues and it may lead to his demise in the upcoming caucus. Although, he has stated that he opposes abortion and he is for stronger national security.

John McCain is at 5%. He had a strong standing earlier in the year, but in April to June he took almost an 18% drop in the polls. It could be due to McCain taking a democratic approach when he said that global climate change should be a top priority when Iowans feel there are greater issues that need to be dealt with such as health care, the war in Iraq and immigration. Because Guiliani decided not to participate in the straw poll, McCain said he decided not to participate as well. Iowans could have taken that to mean that they weren't committed to Iowa.

The other republican candidates are Sam Brownback and Ron Paul who are both at 4%, Tom Tancredo who is at 2% and Duncan Hunter who is at 1%. Twenty-two percent of the Iowans polled are unsure of who they would vote for.