Herman Cain surges to lead in new national poll

The Herman Cain juggernaut has reached its peak -- but for how long?

The former pizza chain executive had surged into the top tier in the blink of an eye, and now a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll has him in first place nationally among potential Republican primary voters.

Cain’s rise parallels Rick Perry’s descent. Cain was the choice of 27% in the poll, up from just 5% in August, while Perry was third at 16%, down from 38%.

Mitt Romney, meanwhile, is showing remarkable consistency, in polling at least. He placed second with 23%, exactly where he stood two months ago.

When respondents’ first and second choices were combined, Cain is still in first with 45%, just ahead of Romney at 44%. Republicans have long been ambivalent about the candidates, but 63% said they were satisfied with the choices before them.

Among a full sample of respondents, President Obama’s approval rating was 44%, also unchanged from August; 51% disapproved of his job performance.

In hypothetical general election matchups, Obama leads Mitt Romney 46%-44%. The president fares far better against Perry (51%-39%) and Cain (49%-38%).

The national survey of 1,000 adults was conducted Oct. 6 through 10. The subsample of 336 Republican primary voters had a margin of error of 5.35 percentage points.