The latest USA Today/Gallup poll shows Republicans favoring both Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich as their first choice for their party’s 2012 presidential nomination, while Herman Cain is not too far behind.

The results, based on poll of 1,062 Republicans and Republican-leaning independents show Romney is the choice of 20 percent of Republicans nationwide and Gingrich at 19 percent, while Gingrich is at 22 percent amongst registered Republicans and Romney is at 21 percent.

Gingrich has reached his highest popularity levels among Republicans, jumping from the prior polls at 12 percent to 19 percent.

Former pizzeria CEO Herman Cain is not far behind at 16 percent, despite the allegations of sexual harassment against him. Cain was previously at 21 percent.

Texas congressman Ron Paul is in 4th place at 10 percent among all Republicans and 9 percent of registered voters while Rick Perry continues to decline from a 29 percent peak in mid-August to the latest level at 8 percent, putting him in a statistical tie with Paul.

Romney has been in the lead for almost every poll since May, but Gingrich has been slowly climbing his way up and is now statistically tied with Romney, leaving them both in the lead.

The first state primary elections will begin in January, continuing into February. The so-called ‘Super Tuesday’ will take place on March 6 when multiple states will hold elections. State primaries will continue into June.