Newt Gingrich Surges Ahead In National Polling As Mitt Romney Falters
Newt Gingrich commanded the attention of a national audience during the GOP’s South Carolina debate and now that strong showing mixed with recent mixed reviews over Mitt Romney’s past (tying a dog to his car and erasing all records of his Massachusetts Governorship) has allowed the veteran politician to surge ahead in national polling.
According to the latest Gallup daily tracking poll Gingrich now controls 31 percent of the national vote with Mitt Romney trailing behind at 27 percent. Tied for third place is Ron Paul and Rick Santorum who both control 12 percent.
This isn’t the first time Gingrich has taken the lead, he controlled 37 percent of the vote in December before Mitt Romney surged ahead to reclaim the lead. It was just one week ago in fact that Mitt Romney held the same 37 percent vote total that Gingrich once controlled.
Gingrich has also been helped along by a South Carolina primary victory. Typically a win in any state will give a politician a bit of momentum heading into the next primary battleground.
The poll however does not take into account Romney’s outright attacks on Newt Gingrich during their Monday night debate in Florida. During that debate it was Romney who fought with Gingrich type intensity, calling Newt an “influence peddler” based on his $1.8 million contract with Freddie Mac (that number may have been higher but only one year’s worth of contracts between Newts company and Freddie Mac have been revealed). Gingrich on the other hand fell flat and wasn’t able to receive the standing ovation type welcome he had received after his South Carolina debate remarks.
Gingrich will still have time to recover from the first Florida debate with one more contest scheduled before voters take to the polls in the Jan. 31 Florida primary.
Romney will need a big second debate to overtake Gingrich, while Mitt once controlled a double-digit lead in Florida one week ago it’s now Gingrich controlling that lead.
In early voting which has included 230,000 ballots Romney is currently ahead of Gingrich 43 percent to 40 percent.
