Newt Gingrich surging nationally toward Mitt Romney in new Rasmussen poll

[eb22]

This is encouraging news!       The more debates,    the better!

eb22


http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/polls/204803-rasmussen-poll-gingrich-surging-nationally

Gingrich surging nationally toward Romney in new Rasmussen poll
By Jonathan Easley - 01/18/12 11:23 AM ET
 
Newt Gingrich has nearly caught Mitt Romney nationally, according to the latest survey from conservative polling outlet Rasmussen.


Romney took 30 percent of likely Republican voters in the poll, followed by Gingrich at 27 percent, Rick Santorum at 15 percent, Ron Paul at 13 percent and Rick Perry at 4 percent.



 The presidential candidates trailing Romney are furiously trying to derail the former Massachusetts governor before Saturday’s South Carolina primary, which Gingrich has called the “last chance” to stop a Romney nomination.

After victories in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, a win in South Carolina would go a long way to cementing the narrative that Romney is the inevitable GOP nominee. According to the Rasmussen poll, 70 percent of Republicans already believe that Romney will eventually win the party’s nomination.

Romney leads comfortably in the Palmetto State according to most polls, but the Rasmussen poll indicates that Gingrich could be picking up steam following a fiery debate performance on Monday night.

The Rasmussen poll, which was taken Tuesday night, shows Gingrich has spiked 11 percent from two weeks ago, when he was at 16 percent.

The candidates will debate again in South Carolina on Thursday.

The poll also finds Gingrich within striking distance of Romney on what most polls indicate is the No. 1 issue in the election — the economy. Thirty-four percent said Romney is the best candidate to manage the economy, while 29 percent said the best candidate would be Gingrich.

The GOP candidates have been hammering away at Romney over his time as an executive at Bain Capital, calling him a “vulture” capitalist who laid off workers and picked companies clean for the benefit of his own investments.

Romney has also come under fire for not releasing his tax returns, leading to speculation that because most of his income comes from investments, he might pay a lower tax rate than most working Americans.

According to the Rasmussen poll, the race remains fluid. More than half of the likely GOP primary voters surveyed said they could still change their minds.

[briann]

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This changes everything..... WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dr. Dan]

With Palin's support, this could boost Gingrich as the alternative to Romney.  I hope that Santorum and Perry quit now and endorse Gingrich ahead of south carolina.

[arksis]

Wow! What I would LOVE to see is Gingrich debate that imposter of a president, but we all know that will never happen. He will only have "controlled" debates, I bet.

[Baltimore]

Chaim has talked about how horrible a Romney/Obama debate would be for Romney. Newt supporters have come up with this scenario:

[eb22]

According to a poll that came out this evening,    Newt is now in the lead in South Carolina!      If Newt has another strong debate performance tomorrow night,    I like his chances of winning the S.C.  Primary.     

eb22

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http://savannahnow.com/latest-news/2012-01-18/poll-gingrich-takes-lead-sc

Poll: Gingrich takes the lead in S.C.
Posted: January 18, 2012 - 10:43pm  |  Updated: January 18, 2012 - 10:47pm
 By Walter C. Jones   
January 18, 2012 - 10:43pm
Poll: Gingrich takes the lead in S.C.
ATLANTA -- The seesaw Republican primary has tipped again in a poll conducted Wednesday night, giving Newt Gingrich the lead in the South Carolina primary.

Gingrich reversed the momentum of Mitt Romney who had an expanding lead in the same poll Sunday night.

Gingrich’s 32 percent to Romney’s 29 puts the two inside the poll’s 3.8 percent margin of error, but the 11-point lead Romney held in the Sunday evening survey has evaporated. And Romney’s strength had been building after wins in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary.

The polls were conducted by InsiderAdvantage/Majority Opinion Research. Wednesday’s was conducted for the Augusta Chronicle and the Savannah Morning News of 718 registered voters who said they were voting in Saturday’s GOP primary.

Ron Paul is in third place with 15 percent, followed by Rick Santorum’s 11 and Rick Perry’s 3. Seven percent remain undecided and are unlikely to vote while 3 percent favor some other candidate not listed as a choice.

Gingrich, who represented neighboring Georgia in Congress for two decades and rose to become House speaker, took support from Santorum and Perry to pass Romney, according to pollster Matt Towery, InsiderAdvantage CEO. Gingrich captured the lead, Towery said, through his performance in Monday night’s televised debate that included a standing ovation from the live audience in response to his defense of conservatism.

“To come back this much, this quickly, is the debates,” Towery said.

The candidates debate again Thursday night, which will give Gingrich a chance to cement his lead and Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, to redeem himself.

The demographic breakdown of Wednesday’s poll results show Gingrich not only doing well with male voters and those who declare themselves to be Republicans, groups that have traditionally backed him, but he is also even with Romney with female voters and has captured the support of independents.

“His biggest weakness are voters who are 30-44 who are overwhelmingly for Romney,” Towery said. “They don’t know anything about Gingrich. They don’t know what he’s achieved, so they’re voting against him.”

A CNN poll released earlier Wednesday was conducted between Friday and Tuesday. Even it showed Romney’s lead disappearing despite the fact that most respondents had not yet seen Monday’s debate. In that survey, Romney and Santorum were losing ground while Gingrich was gaining it.

Leaders of national conservative groups hoping to defeat Romney for being too moderate for their taste agreed over the weekend to back Santorum, a former senator from Pennsylvania. Apparently South Carolina conservatives have decided to coalesce behind Gingrich instead.

A super PAC supporting Gingrich is running ads stressing his debating skills as proof he is more likely to defeat Barack Obama in November than Romney is. Monday’s debate performance by Gingrich apparently drove that point home for many conservatives eager to retake the White House but wondering which candidate is best able.

[eb22]

With Palin's support, this could boost Gingrich as the alternative to Romney.  I hope that Santorum and Perry quit now and endorse Gingrich ahead of south carolina.

Ideally,   Rick Santorum and Rick Perry would drop out of the race before Saturday.     My guess is both will stay in the race and at the very least Rick Perry will drop out early next week.     

[eb22]

Wow! What I would LOVE to see is Gingrich debate that imposter of a president, but we all know that will never happen. He will only have "controlled" debates, I bet.

This is a huge concern for me as well.        The good news is even in a controlled debate setting,   Newt Gingrich is very likely going to perform at a very high level.   


Regardless of what a large portion of what the media says,    Barack Hussein Obama would much rather run against Mitt Romney than against Newt Gingrich.      It wouldn't surprise me in the least if Romney starts getting softball  ( easy ) questions in the Republican Debates and Newt gets the most difficult questions.    ABC already tried that back in December with one of their debates.   

[eb22]

Chaim has talked about how horrible a Romney/Obama debate would be for Romney. Newt supporters have come up with this scenario:

Mitt Romney's history,   coupled with his political correctness,     would be problematic in the general election campaign.     When you listen to Romney speak,   he treats BHO as a conventional opponent.     That's not what's needed!