Posted on 11/11/2011 8:18:07 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Looks like the official Newt Gingrich Second Look has begun. A new Marist poll conducted for McClatchy of Republican and independent primary voters shows Gingrich moving into a narrow second-place lead over Herman Cain, while Mitt Romney continues to lead by four points overall:
The Republican presidential race is being shaken up again, with Mitt Romney retaking the lead, Newt Gingrich surging into second place, and Herman Cain dropping to third place, according to a new McClatchy-Marist poll released Friday.
The poll signaled that Romney retains his steady if uncommanding position and that, in the quest by most Republicans for an alternative, they’ve cooled on Cain and are starting to turn to Gingrich. It is the first national survey since the allegations of sexual harassment against Cain erupted into a full political firestorm this week.
“Clearly this race has taken yet another dramatic turn. The top tier has gotten more crowded,” said Lee M. Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion at Marist College, which conducted the poll, in New York.
“Romney is still where he’s been. It’s fair to say this is a battle for the anybody-but-Romney candidate. Gingrich has now begun his 15 days of fame. Whether he is able to maintain that, as others have fallen, is the question. He may be the only one standing when this is all said and done.”
That won’t make people here at BlogCon 2011 very happy. Stephen Kruiser started off the conference here by warning that both Gingrich and Romney are “Republican Party hacks.” Gingrich has had a lot more involvement with conservative grassroots groups, but sitting on the sofa with Nancy Pelosi and his other heterodoxies from the movement have not been forgiven, to say the least.
However, the internals of the Marist poll indicate that this may be precisely where Gingrich is getting his second wind. Among Tea Party adherents, Gingrich has a significant lead over Herman Cain, 28% to 21%. Mitt Romney comes in third at 17%, leading Ron Paul and Rick Perry at 10% each. Surprisingly, Michele Bachmann has dropped to only 3% for Tea Party voters.
He and Romney lead among Republicans, 26/21 Romney with Herman Cain coming in at 15%. Cain leads among independents, 19%, with Gingrich second at 17% and Romney at 16%, essentially a three-way tie within the margin of error. Gingrich comes in third (14%) for “shares your values” behind Romney (22%) and Cain (21%), but he’s second to Romney on “closest to the issues” (28/21, Cain at 18%), second to Romney on the ability to beat Obama (26/23, Cain fourth at 13% behind Michele Bachmann at 14%), and first for having the experience to govern (25/20 over Romney, more than doubling Cain’s 11%).
And here’s a big indicator that Gingrich’s moment has arrived — his support is by far the strongest in the field at the moment. Forty-three percent of his followers strongly support Gingrich. That figure is only 31% for Cain and 30% for Romney. Only 22% of Gingrich supports say they may vote differently, as opposed to 25% for Romney and 28% for Cain.
Gingrich may not be leading this field, but his second wind looks legitimate — and Gingrich is experienced enough to keep from stepping on his momentum.
If Newt becomes emperor I guess we can expect private emnterprise to be remodeled in the Freddie Mac mold. Then again, who knows, he is so unreliable it’s pathetic.
He belongs in a think tank, not in power.
Anyone else thinks polls are manipulated?
Yeah enjoy it while it lasts. Just shifted the target off Cain’s back onto his.
And unlike Cain, he doesn’t have $14 million to spend fighting the smear merchants
Yes, some polls more than others.
I remember seeing polls that polled 19% Republicans and 40% Democrats to get the results they wanted. Way back in the day, people almost never check the internals.
Is this a national poll?
National polls mean nothing!
Read my lips... Iowa, South Carolina and... oops I forgot the other one.
Great, a glib, well-spoken soft-statist.
I would not be so sure of that. His deer in the headlight rambling response to the Fannie/Freddie questions was not so hot. Then his meekly backing down when the CNBC moderator refused to back off the Health Reform question also did not look too great.
I don’t think that Newt will be able to stay up there very long...at all.
This bimbo crap with Cain seems to have died out at the end of the week. It did damage Cain, but now he has the chance to get back on message. Meanwhile Newt stepped in it again, by siding with Anita Hill against Cain...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2806281/posts?page=218
Now, with Newt in the top tier, we’ll all get to know Newt a bit better - and there is a LOT TO KNOW. I expect him to take the same roller coaster ride down that Perry took.
Isn’t this the “all adults” poll? The plan goes on...on to Newt...destroy him...hello candidate Romney. Only if we let it happen. If we do, shame on us.
Cindie
Oh noes! How many Marists are there anyway?
“I would not be so sure of that. His deer in the headlight rambling response to the Fannie/Freddie questions was not so hot. Then his meekly backing down when the CNBC moderator refused to back off the Health Reform question also did not look too great.”
He has so much to answer for, I would spend the weekend just typing it up. I had a fun time pointing out just who Perry was, but Newt’s baggage is at least 10 times as much.
I think his support is VERY SOFT at this point. His supporters know his baggage, but they’re simply sick of the Cain bimbos, and they liked Newt’s debate skills...but no one trusts Newt to nearly the degree Cain’s supporters trust Cain. They know Newt can flake on ANY issue, at ANY time...but they also think that Newt has a better chance than the others next year...if he figures out just how to look like a conservative.
.....who consistently executes the activities of getting divorced and finding a new girlfriend out of order.
It’s McClatchly drivel. They’re more far left than MoveOn. Cain’s way out from with Gingrich second. Romney has been stuck on 22 percent since 2006.
This poll includes NON-republicans......a little hidden secret.
The Smear Newt Campaign will probably be launched Sunday on the “Propaganda Shows” AKA the “News Shows.”
Its a poll of less than 500 people that gives the press and Romney bots something to write about because they really don’t want Cain.
Anyone that thinks that this poll was not planned precisely to generate these stories is naive.
Newt has more baggage than any other candidate running.
The democrats are salivating at the chance of bringing
it all out when the time is right.
A partial list of Newt’s baggage:
“Social engineering from the right is also bad”
“Medicare withering on the vine”
“We are not going to deport 11 million people”
For healthcare mandates before he is against it
For man made global warming before he is against it
3 marriages all in 1 life time, with some adultery included
Newt has more recorded votes in congress than all except Ron Paul, and will be dissected & bisected by MSM.
I do hope that this poll does get some play...as it would put Newt into fair play, and Newt will pay, and pay dearly, for his sins.
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