New Rasmussen poll in FL puts Romney up by 8 (17 point swing in just 3 days !!)

Hotair ^ | 01/26/2012 | Ed Morrissey

[SeekAndFind]

Mitt Romney’s performance in Monday’s debate turned out to be a game-changer after all. Three days after a Rasmussen poll of likely Republican primary voters showed Newt Gingrich up by nine points, a new survey taken yesterday shows Romney has an eight-point lead heading into tonight’s CNN debate:

Mitt Romney has jumped back ahead in the fevered Florida Republican Primary race with his support back to where it was before Newt Gingrich’s big win Saturday in South Carolina.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Florida Republican Primary Voters, taken Wednesday night, shows Romney with 39% support to Gingrich’s 31%. Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum earns 12%, and Texas Congressman Ron Paul runs last with nine percent (9%). Four percent (4%) prefer some other candidate, and seven percent (7%) are undecided.

That’s a ten-point drop for Gingrich since Sunday’s survey, and a seven-point gain for Romney. The momentum of the debate performance, and perhaps the renewed aggression on the campaign trail for Romney, seems to be firmly established in new polling. That makes tonight a must-win evening for Gingricg, and that probably means a lot of bloody knuckles for both men.

Let’s take a look at the differences in the internals. Very conservative voters still choose Gingrich as the stronger candidate against Obama, but that’s down to 47/34 from 56/24 in the earlier survey. Women had given a three-point edge to Romney on this question, but that has now jumped to 22 points, 52/30, and men now give Romney a nine-point lead where Gingrich had a double-digit advantage. The overall rating on this question now favors Romney by 15 points, 49/34, where Gingrich led by 3 on Sunday. Gingrich’s favorability didn’t change much at 63/35, but Romney’s increased to 73/25.

This looks like a very volatile race, though. A big debate stumble by Romney could reverse this yet again. However, with the tax issue off the table and every other line of attack likely to be a rerun, there’s a question about whether Gingrich can find another way to knock Romney off his stride as he did in South Carolina, or go after the media like he did to win in two debates there.

[Mountain Mary]

“Anyone who expects the fall to be a cakewalk (Rush?) is fooling themselves”

I’m puzzled by this too, MR. Is Rush trying to keep our spirits up by saying that or does he really believe it?

[wolfman23601]

As I worried, Rubio’s endorsement threw this thing to Romney.

[GoCards]

Rubio endorsed Romney?

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Please drop out, Rick Santorum!!!

Why are you focused on Rick? What about Ron Paul?

[wolfman23601]

Well he has been attacking Newt all week, so he might as well have.

[dforest]

If Rick Santorum drops out, how can you be sure his following would go to Newt?

What if it helped Romney?

[KansasGirl]

Not in so many words. But he attackd Newt and praisd Romney as a real conservative.

[GoCards]

These folks including Rubio make my head spin

[nathanbedford]

First principle: Rasmussen is a highly reputable and accurate pollster; he is not biased in favor of Romney or Fox news or anyone else that is discernible from what he publishes.

The swing in the polls is devastating against Gingrich. There is no nice spin to put on this.

The unanswered question is why the dramatic swing? Is it a result of Gingrich's lackluster performance in the first Florida debate? Is it a result of the accumulation of negative ads? Is it the endorsement of Marco Rubio?

Finally, can the situation be reversed? Can Gingrich turn the tables tonight? Certainly, he has no choice now but to go on the attack and do so aggressively. He will certainly then be accused by the establishment of being the "old Newt" and they will try to make them into another Nixon. Nevertheless, Newt must break out and accept that this reaction will be the cost of whatever gains he can make.

Gingrich must absolutely refute any allegation brought against him and he must do so emphatically and he must do so in such a way that immediately puts Romney on the defensive for his shortcomings. In other words he must parry and counterpunch hard!

We are putting a tremendous demands on Gingrich's forensic talents as impressive as they are. He must not under shoot or Romney will continue to pile up votes by virtue of the weight of his negative charges and negative ads. He must not over shoot in that he must not appear small, mean, or petty. He must display passion but not petulance.

I think we should keep in mind that this is a closed primary and the score will be portentous.

[NorCal12]

Yes, it has been a full court press, the past two days with the piss-ant Drudge leading the charge!

I have already told the RNC, not another dime from me—ever again!!

[TexasFreeper2009]

yep, that’s the only thing that could save us now.

Please Santorum drop out and endorse Gingrich.

[Mountain Mary]

Rubio endorsed Romney? News to me!

[jwalsh07]

Newt can overcome the early voting but he better be good tonight if he is gonna do that.

[musicman]

Don't Be Fooled In 2012!!
Keep Up With The REAL News
Conservatives Need From FR
Help Keep It Going !!

Sponsoring FReepers are contributing
$10 Each time a New Monthly Donor signs up!
Get more bang for your FR buck!
Click Here To Sign Up Now!

[rbmillerjr]

Listen, Rush downplayed Newt’s great win and momentum coming out of SC.

I wouldn’t count in Rush and his weekly stand in Steyn is a Mittbot.

[Mountain Mary]

“yorkie in the sweater vest”!!!!

LOL, gbc.

[jwalsh07]

Look whats hurting Newt is Romneys misleading ads about the Gingrich ethics charges which were totally bogus. I have my problems with Newt but that ethics thing was bs. Newt did not handle it well then and he is not handling it well now. He needs to clear that air up tonight decisively. And he needs to do it at the opening of the debate no matter what he is asked.

[rwfromkansas]

This is a concern.

Let’s see if other polls confirm.

But, tonight’s debate better be a winner for Gingrich.

[rbmillerjr]

It was a non endorsement endorsement by Rubio...don’t forget that is Jeb’s boy.

He called Romney a conservative. Taken in conjunction with all of the attack ads cutting down Newt and constant media blitz...don’t fool yourself, Rubio endorsed.

[Mountain Mary]

Someone mentionned that Newt wasn’t feeling well at the last debate: that he was fighting the flu, or something like that.

But please, Newt, don’t make the mistake of sending people to your website tonight...or saying that you don’t want to argue with Mitt over petty things.
Let’s Roll.