Poll: Gingrich Gaining Support In South
MIAMI (CBSMiami.com) – The Florida GOP Primary is a little more than a month away, and while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is opening a big league nationally; Republicans still aren't sold on their candidates.
According to a new Pew poll, Gingrich currently leads his only real competitor, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney by 14 points. No other Republican polled more than eight percent in the Pew poll.
More troubling for Romney is that 35 percent of Republican voters say there's at least a chance they could support Gingrich, which would bring his total support to 70 percent. Romney has possible support from 61 percent of the electorate.
Gingrich has a plurality of support from the South, East, and Midwest. The western states are the only region that prefers Romney over Gingrich.
Perhaps more troubling for both Gingrich and Romney is that strong support for either candidate is only averaging 31 percent for both.
Pew said in January 2008, roughly half of Republicans favored John McCain's nomination strongly.
Gingrich is also being viewed by a plurality of Republican voters (35 percent) as having the best chance of any of the candidates to beat President Barack Obama; compared to just 28 percent who said Romney is the best candidate to beat President Obama.
As for the president, his job performance numbers were at 46 percent and leveling off after an up and down year on the job.
Since August, there's been a six point drop in the percentage disapproving of Obama's job performance, according to the Pew poll.
