Businessman Herman Cain and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney are running nearly even atop the field of 2012 GOP presidential hopefuls, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows, with most Republicans dismissing the harassment allegations that over the past week have roiled Cain’s campaign. 
 
 Seven in 10 Republicans say reports that Cain made unwanted advances toward two employees when he was head of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s — allegations which have been stiffly rebutted by Cain’s campaign — do not matter when it comes to picking a candidate. 
 
 But the potential threat to his burgeoning campaign is evident as well, with Cain slipping to third place among those who see the charges as serious, and Republican women significantly more likely than men to say the scandal makes them less apt to support Cain. 
 
 The poll was conducted Oct. 31 through Nov. 3, starting the evening after Politico first reported the harassment allegations. Support for Cain was basically steady over the four nights of interviewing, even as new charges against him surfaced. 
 
 Nearly a quarter of all Republicans and GOP-leaning independents now back Cain as the party’s nominee, his best showing in Post-ABC polls this year, and up significantly from early October. At 23 percent nationally, Cain is neck-and-neck with Romney (24 percent) atop the GOP field. 
 
 “I think [the charges against Cain are] mostly garbage that they throw at people who want to be president,” James Kindsch, from Middleton, Wis., said in a follow-up interview. 
 
 “I don’t believe it,” said Paul Bradley from Fishersville, Va., adding: “The further in the past they happened, the less accurate they are.” 
 
 In the poll, a majority of Republicans — 55 percent — see reports of Cain’s alleged misconduct as “not a serious matter,” and 70 percent say the situation makes no difference in their vote. 
 
 At the same time, there is clearly a risk to Cain’s campaign should the allegations stick: Sizable numbers of Republicans (37 percent) and GOP-leaning independents (42 percent) see the allegations against Cain as serious ones. In this combined group, Romney is well ahead, with 31 percent support. Cain slips numerically into third place, behind Texas Gov. Rick Perry. 
 
 Among the possible beneficiaries of a shift away from either of the two front-runners are Perry, who checks in at 13 percent in the new poll (down from an early September high of 29 percent) and former House speaker Newt Gingrich, who polled at 12 percent, reaching double digits for the first time this fall. 
 
 Texas Rep. Ron Paul is at 8 percent, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann is at 4 percent, and former Utah governor Jon Huntsman Jr. and former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum are both at 1 percent. 
 
 Although Republican men and women have similar views about whether the allegations against Cain represent a serious matter, GOP women are about twice as likely as men to say the whole situation makes them less apt to vote for Cain (25 to 12 percent). 
 
 “He’s a homey person,” said Blair Watkins of Raleigh, North Carolina, who leans toward Cain but expressed reservations about the sexual harassment allegations in a subsequent interview: “You need someone who’s coming in with a clean record.” 
 
 Although Cain remains a leader in the presidential race, it is unclear whether he would have scored even higher in the new poll absent the allegations. A Quinnipiac poll launched before the scandal broke and ending Monday had Cain at 30 percent among registered voters, up from 17 percent in early October (he also polled at 17 percent in a Post-ABC poll in early October). 
 
 Among registered voters in the new Post-ABC poll, Cain is at 23 percent, just as he is among all Republicans and GOP-leaning independents. (Romney is at 25 percent among registered voters.) 
 
 One shift in Cain’s support over the past month might help him build momentum: His base has diversified, extending to non-tea-party Republicans. The businessman leads Romney among strong tea party backers, but his support has jumped from 1 percent to 14 percent over the past month among those who do not support the movement. 
 
 In a sign of potential uncertainty ahead, however, just 27 percent of Cain’s supporters say they will definitely vote for him. A similarly low number of Romney’s supporters — 28 percent — say they are certain to stick with their choice. 
 
 A total of 1,004 telephone interviews were conducted, including a sample of 438 Republicans and GOP-leaning independents. The margin of sampling error for this smaller sample is plus or minus 5.5 percentage points. 
 
 Polling manager Peyton M. Craighill and polling analyst Scott Clement contributed to this report. ||||| Washington (CNN) -- One of the women who accused Republican presidential contender Herman Cain of sexual harassment released a statement through her lawyer Friday saying that she "stands by" her complaint, which was made "in good faith about a series of inappropriate behaviors and unwanted advances." 
 
 There was "more than one incident" of harassment involving Cain and his client over the span of a couple of months in 1999, attorney Joel Bennett said. 
 
 Bennett said his client, married for 26 years, will not reveal her identity because "she and her husband see no value in revisiting this matter now nor in discussing the matter any further publicly or privately." 
 
 "In fact," he added, "it would be extremely painful for her to do so." 
 
 Bennett released the statement after reaching an agreement to do so with the National Restaurant Association, the organization headed by Cain during the time of the alleged harassment. The group has an agreement with the alleged victim that includes a series of confidentiality and non-disparagement provisions. 
 
 Dawn Sweeney, the current head of the association, issued a statement confirming that in July 1999, Bennett's client "filed a formal internal complaint, in accordance with the association's existing policies prohibiting discrimination and harassment." 
 
 Cain, she noted, "disputed the allegations in the complaint." 
 
 Sweeney said the association is prepared to fully release Bennett's client from her confidentiality agreement in the event she wants to disclose additional details. 
 
 The controversy has dominated Cain's front-running campaign for the past week. A defiant Cain insists he did nothing wrong, and will not let the issue deter him. 
 
 Cain spokesman J.D. Gordon said in response to Bennett's statement that the Cain campaign looks "forward to focusing our attention on the real issues impacting this country -- like fixing this broken economy and putting Americans back to work." 
 
 Cain's campaign said earlier Friday it is considering filing a lawsuit against Politico, the news organization which broke the harassment story last Sunday. 
 
 A possible lawsuit "is being discussed," Gordon told CNN. Gordon declined, however, to discuss the timetable or legal basis for such a move. Cain and his campaign aides have been highly critical of Politico's use of anonymous sources, among other things. 
 
 Politico executive editor Jim VandeHei told CNN he had heard nothing from the Cain campaign, and said the organization "stands confidently behind every story (our) reporters have written on the topic." 
 
 Cain has cited strong poll numbers and fund-raising to claim voters know the allegations are a baseless political attack. 
 
 "The American people are starting to see through this stuff, and they are sick of gutter politics," Cain declared in a radio interview with conservative commentator Sean Hannity on Thursday. "This will not deter me." 
 
 Asked about money paid to two women -- including Bennett's client -- when they left the National Restaurant Association, Cain said in the one case he recalled, it was severance money because accusations of impropriety on his part proved unfounded. 
 
 Bennett insisted Friday there was no severance agreement, but rather a financial settlement of the harassment complaint. 
 
 Cain on Thursday also repeated his accusation that the campaign of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a conservative rival for the GOP nomination, was behind the allegations emerging as Cain rose to the top of the polls in the race. 
 
 In particular, he noted that a former aide, Curt Anderson, signed on with the Perry campaign shortly before the allegations surfaced in Politico. 
 
 "These are the facts. Connect the dots," Cain said, adding that "as more of the information comes out, the more baseless it appears to people." 
 
 In an interview Thursday with CNN, however, Perry flatly denied that his campaign had anything to do with the story. He also vowed that he'd fire any staffer if he found out they were "passing on rumors." 
 
 "(There is) no apology needed," Perry said. "We found out about this the same time that I suppose the rest of America found out about it. I don't know how to tell it any other way, except I knew nothing about it." 
 
 Cain later softened his earlier claim that he told Anderson about one of the allegations against him in a private discussion in 2003. On Thursday, he told Hannity he was "almost certain" the discussion took place. 
 
 The allegations have set off a fierce round of claims and counter-claims regarding how the information became public. At the same time, Cain's campaign announced Thursday he has raised $1.2 million this week since the allegations first surfaced on Sunday in a big boost from supporters. 
 
 The news appears to have had little impact so far on Cain's standing in the GOP race. An ABC News/Washington Post poll released Friday morning -- the first survey conducted entirely after news of the alleged harassment broke -- showed Cain in a dead heat with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney atop the GOP field. 
 
 According to the poll, 24% of Republicans and independents who lean toward the GOP now say they support Romney, compared with 23% for Cain. Romney and Cain have been neck-and-neck in most major national surveys over the past month. 
 
 What exactly transpired during the alleged harassment incidents remains unclear. Asked by Hannity if he ever made flirtatious comments to female subordinates or comments such as "you look hot" or anything, Cain replied: "No, no, no, I didn't." 
 
 As a business leader, he said, he "learned a long time ago" not to comment on a woman's appearance or make any kind of personal comment unless he was "really, really comfortable" with a colleague. Cain told HLN earlier this week that he has never committed sexual harassment "in (his) entire career. Period." 
 
 For his part, Anderson denied in a CNN interview Thursday that he was responsible for leaking the allegations. 
 
 Anderson, who worked on Cain's unsuccessful 2004 U.S. Senate campaign in Georgia and now is a consultant to Perry's campaign, insisted Cain never told him about the accusations. 
 
 "It's hard to leak something you don't know anything about," he said. "I don't have any knowledge of any of this and, you know, it's just not true." 
 
 Later, Cain's chief campaign strategist, Mark Block, said he accepted Anderson's denial, and wanted to move on from the controversy that has dogged his candidate all week. 
 
 "Until we get all the facts, I'm just going to say that we accept what Mr. Anderson has said, and we want to move on with the campaign," Block told Fox News. Block had earlier called for Perry to apologize to Cain for allegedly leaking the harassment allegations to the media. 
 
 Politico first published a report late Sunday claiming that two female employees at the National Restaurant Association accused Cain of inappropriate behavior during his tenure as head of the organization. The women, according to Politico, each received separation packages in the five-figure range. 
 
 The package for one of the women totaled between $32,000 to $37,000 -- approximately equivalent to her annual salary at the time, according to a former National Restaurant Association employee who knows one of the accusers. 
 
 "The workplace (had become) uncommunicative," the former employee told CNN. "They didn't give her work. She didn't interact with people." 
 
 The New York Times previously reported that one of the packages totaled $35,000. On Thursday, Politico reported the other package was for $45,000. 
 
 Cain criticized the Politico report in Thursday's interview, saying the Politico reporters never showed him any documentation or talked to the women who allegedly made the claims. When a Politico reporter was asked on CNN whether another campaign tipped him to the story, he refused to answer, Cain noted. 
 
 "I didn't know there were so many women named 'anonymous' in America, frankly," Cain joked in Thursday's interview about the lack of details about his accusers. Politico editor-in-chief John Harris told CNN the organization is following ordinary media standards by protecting its sources. 
 
 Cain has provided differing accounts of the allegations this week, raising further questions about what happened and the ability of the candidate and his campaign to deal with the controversy. While Cain's campaign was first approached by Politico 10 days before the story was first published, the candidate said he was only remembering many details of the incident on Monday. 
 
 Cain has seized on the uproar as an example of alleged liberal media bias. 
 
 On Wednesday, Cain's campaign called a report that a third former employee had claimed that he had engaged in inappropriate behavior an example of "baseless allegations." 
 
 "He has never acted in the way alleged by inside-the-Beltway media, and his distinguished record over 40 years spent climbing the corporate ladder speaks for itself," said J.D. Gordon, a Cain campaign spokesman. "Since his critics have not been successful in attacking his ideas, they are resorting to bitter personal attacks. Mr. Cain deserves better." 
 
 In the Hannity interview, Cain accused his critics of engaging in the politics of personal destruction, and he insisted his candidacy would survive the maelstrom. 
 
 He blasted what he called a "vicious liberal attack on me," saying the false accusations are because opponents can't coherently challenge his message and want to "intimidate other black conservatives to not go public." 
 
 So far, Cain has only released details about one of the allegations, saying it involved him gesturing to one of the women that she was the same height as his wife -- about 5 feet tall -- and came up to his chin. 
 
 Bennett has not indicated which of the alleged victims he represents, though he said his client is taller than 5 feet. He said earlier this week that his client is "happily married." 
 
 For his part, Cain has said he has no recollection of a second incident. According to Politico, however, one of the allegations involves an "unwanted sexual advance" at a hotel room in Chicago. 
 
 An independent group trying to help Cain released a web video Friday defending him against the harassment allegations and harshly criticizing media coverage of the story. 
 
 The video, by a super political action committee called the 9-9-9 Fund, includes clips of conservative hosts, including Rush Limbaugh. It also uses television clips of liberal pundits attacking Cain, as well as the famous clip of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas calling his grilling during his confirmation hearings two decades ago "a high-tech lynching." 
 
 The video ends with the onscreen message, "Don't let the left do it again." 
 
 CNN's Brian Todd, Gloria Borger, Dugald McConnell, Joshua Levs, Kevin Bohn, Mark Preston, Jim Acosta, Phil Gast and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report. ||||| Concerned Women for America, the right-leaning women’s group, is calling on Herman Cain to say whether he faced complaints about his personal behavior from female employees at the National Restaurant Association who later left the organization with financial settlements. 
 
 CWA president Penny Nance told POLITICO: “I think Herman Cain needs to directly answer the question.” 
 
 “Early in my career I resigned from a trade association for the exact same reason and with no financial settlement. I simply found another job,” Nance said. “Therefore, I know in a very personal way that sexual harassment exists and that it's demeaning and painful. It should never be tolerated in the workforce and certainly not the White House.” 
 
 She continued, though, saying the report of sexually suggestive behavior toward women was not “consistent with my experience with Herman Cain.” 
 
 “I have to say in all fairness that this characterization is completely contrary to the Herman Cain I know. Herman Cain has only been 100% respectful and deferential to me. I have never heard other women in conservative political circles complain of his behavior and they would complain loudly,” Nance said. “Our character and reputations are really all we have at the end of the day. Before I besmirch Herman Cain's I would need more than this.” 
 
 POLITICO reported Sunday night that Cain was accused of inappropriate behavior by multiple employees at the National Restaurant Association; the trade group reached financial settlements with several women who also left their jobs. 
 
 The biggest question for Cain, as the week begins, is whether he will be able to rally the GOP base to his defense or whether his staunchest supporters will abandon him in the wake of the allegations. And that, in turn, probably depends on whether Cain can definitively address the charges and give the answers conservatives like Nance are looking for. 
 
 Former White House press secretary Dana Perino increased the pressure on Cain in a morning appearance on “Fox and Friends.” The George W. Bush administration alum said the Cain campaign’s equivocal answers about whether there had been settlements with NRA employees would not “be enough, for Herman Cain.” 
 
 “Cain … will have to stand on his own two feet for the rest of the week,” she said. “Herman Cain has to have a better answer to the type of question that Geraldo asked when he goes on TV later today.”
– Herman Cain’s sex-harassment allegations don’t seem to have taken much of a toll on his poll numbers. Some 23% of Republicans support Cain’s nomination, putting him in a virtual tie with Mitt Romney, who is at 24%, a Washington Post-ABC News poll finds. That's the best he's done in WaPo-ABC polls all year. What’s more, 70% of Republicans say the allegations won’t affect their vote, and 55% don’t see the charges as a "serious matter." That doesn’t mean Cain is out of the woods, however. Some 37% of Republicans and 42% of GOP-leaning independents call the scandal serious, and Republican women are twice as likely as men to agree that it could make them less likely to vote for Cain. Romney has a strong lead among those concerned about the allegations—details of which keep rolling in. Several sources have provided accounts of an accuser’s story to Politico and the New York Times; one says the woman felt “her job was at risk” if she rejected a suggestive comment from Cain. After she complained about Cain’s advances, she felt her work environment became hostile, the Times notes.