Newtmentum
by David Atkins
Don't look now, but Newt Gingrich has taken the lead in the GOP Presidential race.
Two new national polls of the Republican primary race show very different results in the horserace, but do agree on one thing: Newt Gingrich is rocketing upwards.
The new CNN poll, among Republican respondents: Romney 24%, Gingrich 22%, Cain 14%, Perry 12%, Paul 8%, Bachmann 6%, Huntsman 3%, and Santorum 3%. In CNN’s previous poll from a month ago, Romney had 26%, Cain 25%, Perry 13%, and all others in single digits (including Gingrich at 8%).
And the new numbers from Public Policy Polling (D): Gingrich 28%, Cain 25%, Romney 18%, Perry 6%, Bachmann 5%, Paul 5%, Huntsman 3%, Santorum 1%, and Johnson 1%.
In the previous PPP survey from a month ago, Cain led with 30%, followed by Romney at 22%, Gingrich at 15%, Perry at 14%, and all others in single digits.
The two polls also show Newt Gingrich currently having the best favorable ratings among Republican voters.
In the CNN pol, Gingrich’s favorable ratings among GOPers is 61%, to only 21% unfavorable. This is followed by Romney at 55%-27%, Cain at 47%-31%, Perry at 43%-37%, Bachmann at 41%-33%, Santorum at 30%-22%, and Huntsman at 19%-22%.
And in the PPP numbers, Gingrich’s numbers are 68%-23%, compared to 57%-31% for Cain, 48%-39% for Romney, followed by Bachmann at 40%-41%, Perry at 35%-49%, and Paul at 31%-52%.
The Republican base has been on a months-long search for the anti-Romney. They've courted, then dumped Trump, Bachmann, Perry, Cain, and Christie (who sadly declined the date.) I still think that Romney will be the eventual nominee, but kudos to former Hullabaloo and now FDL contributor Dave Dayen for calling the Gingrich surge over a month ago:
It's going to be awesome when Gingrich surges to the lead next month.
Dave Dayen is one of the smartest political writers out there point blank, and even his jokes are more serious and have greater insight than most pundits' most "serious" work.
Just as a thought experiment, it would be interesting to consider how the media would react to similar primary volatility among the Democratic base. Somehow I suspect it would be portrayed less as a values-driven soul search, and more as the waffling of a bunch of insecure hippies who can't seem to make a commitment.
C'est la vie.
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