Posted on 12/19/2011 2:00:04 PM PST by lbryce
The bad news keeps piling up for New Gingrich.
House speaker now tied for the lead with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, each with 28 percent in a survey of likely Republican primary voters. Ron Paul is in third with 14 percent, a 5 point rise since CNN's last poll a month ago.
Mr. Gingrich's lead in the polls – which was in the double digits for most of this month – has been steadily eroding, according to Real Clear Politics poll tracking, but the CNN survey is the first major national poll in over a month to show Gingrich not in the lead at all.
The poll comes on the heels of a Public Policy Polling survey showing Gingrich now significantly down in Iowa, well behind both Ron Paul (the leader) and Mr. Romney.
Combined, it adds fuel to the signs that Gingrich has peaked – and is following in the footsteps of fellow GOP candidates Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, and Herman Cain, all of whom surged rapidly in the polls, only to fall rapidly as voters grew disenchanted.
Also notable is just how undecided primary voters still are, with the Iowa caucuses 15 days away.
Just 35 percent of those polled indicated they had made up their minds; the rest were undecided or said they might still switch candidates.
Romney beat Gingrich solidly on likeability (30 percent said he was the most likeable candidate, compared with 15 percent each for Gingrich and Ms. Bachmann). And 32 percent of those surveyed said Romney was the candidate who best represents the personal characteristics and qualities a president should have, compared with 21 percent for Gingrich.
Gingrich, however, seems to come across as more of a leader: 42 percent called him the strongest leader, compared with 26 percent for Romney.
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
At first, you think, hey, yeah, Newt Gingrich, sure, the Contract-with-America guy, Bill Clinton's political nemesis, 90's defender of the right-wing agenda, hero of the conservative, Republican populance, in days gone by. But after awhile, this unlikely Gingrich resurgence begins wearing off, when you begin realizing that despite all this great stuff about him, his negative numbers overwhelm the political assets he seems to have as Republican nominee.
“At first you think...” then realize another fat old white guy. Just the qualities to attract the “suburban mothers” lol
Newt will go up and down for a while.
There are plenty of negatives for the rest of them too.
As they shoot each other down it can be expected to be like a roller coaster for a while. The early primary’s should separate the wheat from the chaff and when all is said and done it will be Newt and Romney.
I believe Romney’s negatives trump Newts and that Newt will be the winner. That doesnt mean Santorum couldn’t make a late charge of maybe even Perry. Bachman?? No way, Paul?? No way.
It aint over till the fat lady sings.
another fat old white guy. lol.
I’ll take Newt over Mittens any day.
CNN praying for Romney to win the nod. The oh-so beatable Romney!
Will not vote for Newt...he cannot beat zero.
Yup.
Who will you vote for? Who do you think can beat Obama?
Newt is still leading with Romney. Are Bachmann, Perry, and Newt done? No. Not until we see what the voters will do.
Gingrich is a lot smarter than you, and all of his rivals.
Romney has money and the GOP-E backing. Ron Paul is a stark raving mad foreign policy lunatic that’s doing Romney a huge favor by running the most serious and severe hit piece ads against Ginrich.
The onslught of negative hit piece ads by all his rivals are doing him harm in Iowa which is a mess right now and might prove to be mess, but Gingrich will prevail in other states.
He’s the adult; the serious candidate who doesn’t have to tell his audiences that he’s the serious candidate.
Our nation can ill afford an amateur for our next Commander-in-Cheif. Gingrich has taught Generals.
Sorry, but these guys are scared sh*tless of Newt. My fear, however, is their job will be made just a tad easier by gullible FReepers and other Republicans around the country. We saw how successful they were getting “conservatives” to join with Politico in destroying Cain.
They actually have a good track record thus far. Why is it i fear the stupid party is about to strike again?
Spoken like a true MittBot.
In my view, this is simply the result of the inevitable scrutiny given a frontrunner. Some candidates survive it, some don’t, some muddle through.
Once it became clear that Gingrich could become a viable candidate, of course people turned their attention to him in a new way.
Lots of conservatives who already held an opinion of Gingrich from way back did two things: (1) took a trip down Memory Lane, and (2) researched more deeply into what Newt had been up to since leaving office.
Some conservatives came up with the verdict that he was “the man.” Others came up with the verdict that their recent positive views of Newt didn’t quite overcome the negatives. Others voiced varying degrees of support or concern, but were not yet firmly for or against Newt, preferring to wait to see how his candidacy at the frontrunner level, as well as the rest of the race, rolled out.
If Newt doesn’t cut it at this level of scrutiny by his own party, it is what it is. He has to, first, understand the skepticism, then, two, dispel it.
Having Newt’s candidacy as a frontrunner evaluated now rather than later is the best thing that could happen. He still has time to recover, and voters still have time to decide if they are going to support him or someone else in the primaries.
Wow. Who could have seen this coming?
He’s a joke and it seems many people are finally waking up to this fact.
It’d be great if some dark horse candidate jumps in...
Besides the obvious Palin and Christie comments (which are way overdone imo) who do yall think could jump in?
Self-fulfilling nonsense and admitting defeat before the fight begins.
Whoever gets the most [electoral] votes wins.
At the very least it’d be way too close if we nominate Newt.
If we get the right candidate it could be a landslide...
Will not vote for Mitt...he cannot beat zero.
So PPP does one poll with the desired outcome and the media/RNC just hammer it over and over and over, even though it does not match up with the other polls. Here is the media tactic that works so darn well most of the time to destroy conservatives. Interestingly, with Perry, Cain and Gingrich, the Beltway wizards of smart on our side go right along with this disgusting tactic.
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