Posted on 12/15/2011 7:02:30 AM PST by Zakeet
A new survey from pollster Scott Rasmussen shows support for Newt Gingrich in Iowa has fallen sharply in recent days. The poll shows the former House speaker with the support of 20 percent of likely Republican caucus-goers -- down from 32 percent in the last Rasmussen survey released November 15.
Gingrich has now fallen into second place in the Iowa race, behind Mitt Romney, who is at 23 percent, up from 19 percent in the last Rasmussen survey.
The complete poll results are: Romney, 23 percent; Gingrich 20 percent; Ron Paul, 18 percent; Rick Perry 10 percent; Michele Bachmann, 9 percent; Rick Santorum, 6 percent; and Jon Huntsman, 5 percent. Ten percent of likely caucus-goers said they support some other candidate or are not sure how they will vote.
In the new survey, every candidate but Gingrich gained support in the last few weeks. The biggest gainers were Romney, up four points; Paul, up eight points; and Perry, up four points. Michele Bachmann climbed three points, as did Jon Huntsman, who has been to Iowa a grand total of one time in the campaign.
Gingrich, on the other hand, fell 12 points.
"This is the fifth consecutive monthly poll with a new leader," Rasmussen says in an email. "It was Bachmann in August, then Perry, Cain, and Gingrich. Amidst all the volatility, Romney's numbers have held steady each month, and Ron Paul has been in double digits each month."
Rasmussen warns that the race remains volatile, with only 40 percent of likely caucus-goers sure of how they will vote.
(Excerpt) Read more at campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com ...
It appears that the current Flavor-of-the-Week is turning kind of sour.
You Perrybots are so full of sh*t, you guys were the first out of the starting block with drive-by bashings and now you want a call to unity.
Comparing Perry to McCain is not good for Perry, accurate since both are RINOs, but not very good.
At this time in 2007, Rasmussen had Huckabee and Hillary leading their respective national polls.
He’s good, but not fallible, and Iowa is difficult to predict through polls.
That said, Rasmussen’s Iowa polls in December 2007 fairly accurately predicted Huckabee’s win and Romney’s second place finish there. It did overestimate Huckabee’s margin to some extent and underestimated McCain’s and Thompson’s performance.
South Carolina always gets it right. In every presidential primary since 1980, the state has backed the candidate that eventually clinched the Republican nomination. The state is more diverse than New Hampshire, less evangelical than Iowa, and bigger than both of them.
Not sure why you think I have a high regard for Obama - I was speaking about Gingrich and his inflated image of himself. Maybe you need to watch his global warming lovefest with Kerry and his joint appearance with Nancy.
The myth of Newt as a great thinker is being exposed.
The Dems are laughing at us.
Leave it to the GOP to be able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
I believe that with our field, Bam is gonna coast.
I so hope I’m wrong.
Huntsman doesn’t have a chance.
I think many conservatives have lost the art of critical thinking, its a sad narrative that the liberals will leverage willfully.
Newt’s numbers were very solid for way too long, based on strong support from the base who had accepted his past, but wanted his experience and Professional genius to fix this mess.
Nobody can convince me that in just 2 days, that he has dropped to this level in Iowa, based on RUN Paul attack ads. Wait for another week to see what reality is. I simply don’t but this for a minute. Nothing new has hit the media about Newt, at the level that hit Cain. This is absolutely a Media fabrication, similar to the one that launched Cain to the top for no good reason.
The MSM is flexing their propaganda muscles again. And the stupid Public is eager to take the bait.
Gee... I wonder if firing his Iowa campaign manager has anything to do with his supposed “dropping in the polls” in Iowa?
Perry/Bachmann
Perry/Palin
Perry/West
Perry/Mason
I can’t understand this big love affair with Newt and the debates. There are only 3 debates at best, with a lot more to the campaign than that. Winning the debates is not winning the election.
Is that what they call a Freudian slip?
Why would I think you have high regard for obama...duh! Wasn’t it you that said all the had to do was show up and he automatically wins the debates...!!!!
You seem to think he is the messiah or the second coming and people should bow down and grovel at his very presence. You can be in awe and worship him if you want. I still think he is an ignorant POS that isn’t capable of thinking on his own.
As for Newt, he is the only persone in the race that has actually shrunk the size of gov. and he is the only person in the race that has ever cut gov. spending.
His record in gov. speaks for itself.
The following is, unfortunately, from the National Review, but it is a fairly accurate summary of the exchange:
Newt Gingrich has adopted an anti-free market argument—a favorite of the political left—to criticize Mitt Romney. Gingrich accused his rival of making money by “bankrupting companies and laying off employees” in his years at Bain Capital.
Under Romney’s leadership, Bain Capital emerged as a prominent private equity firm, investing initially in startups—Staples was one—then specializing in turnarounds. The company was highly profitable, but was criticized for reducing payrolls and shutting down firms it couldn’t revive. Romney left Bain Capital in 1999.
Whether its investments were successful or not, Bain Capital was engaged in the rough and tumble of free market capitalism. Thus Gingrich’s criticism, coming from a conservative, was surprising.
His attack echoes the criticism of Romney by the late senator Ted Kennedy in 1994. Romney ran against Kennedy when the senator sought reelection in 1994. Kennedy won, aided by brutal, unfair TV ads criticizing Romney for killing jobs.
Gingrich was responding to a statement by Romney earlier Monday on Fox News. Romney was asked if Gingrich should return the $1.6 million he earned for advising Freddie Mac. “Boy, I sure do,” Romney said. “He [Gingrich] was on a debate saying that politicians who took money from Freddie and Fannie should go to jail, which is outrageous in itself.”
In response, Gingrich said: “I would say if Governor Romney would like to give back all the money he’s earned from bankrupting companies and laying off employee’s over the years at Bain, I would be glad to listen to him.”
With Romney at the helm, Bain Capital bought companies, restructured them on firmer financial footing, and later sold them at a profit. But not every buyout succeeded. The Kennedy campaign broadcast ads that focused on cases in which workers lost their jobs. Romney has insisted Bain Capital created far more jobs than it killed.
President Obama’s reelection campaign is reportedly prepared to use the left-wing line of attack against Romney, should he win the Republican presidential nomination next year. Now Gingrich has jumped in first with his sharp criticism of Romney’s career at Bain Capital.
In a debate in October, Gingrich said: “If you want to put people in jail…you might start with Barney Frank and Chris Dodd.” They were the chief Democratic defenders of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the “government sponsored enterprises” that have lost around $150 billion at the taxpayers’ expense.
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