I'm not so sure.
Romney has no support from the base. He only gets votes if he's the last man standing and he won't be.
Cain is likeable, but inept. He is the anti-candidate candidate. He hasn't put in any effort to understand the issues and talks in sound bites. I have a hard time believing he will get votes when people ask "do I want him to be POTUS?".
Gingrich is shooting up in the polls picking up Cain supporters and Perry supporters. However, at some point people will come to understand he is not a small govt conservative.
Perry is the logical location for the Bachmann, Santorum and Paul supporters. He is unequivocal Pro-Lifer and is a small govt conservative. He has built a good organization and has the advt. money to get his message out.
I don't know what % of voters watch the debates, but I don't think it's that high. When Perry responded quickly to his "oops" he probably negated most of the damage. We won't have a good feel for who our candidate will be until after FL & SC.
I think you’re right and you made some good points.
We shall see what we shall see.
Wrong question.
You should ask how many voters watched the endless replays of that 51 seconds?