It's the biggest headline in a national poll full of headlines: Newt Gingrich has surged and is now basically tied with Mitt Romney in the race for the GOP presidential nomination.
According to a CNN/ORC International Poll released Monday, 24% of Republicans and independents who lean towards the GOP say Romney is their most likely choice for their party's presidential nominee with Gingrich at 22%. Romney's 2-point advantage is well within the survey's sampling error.
While the level of support has pretty much stayed the same for Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who's making his second bid for the White House, the former House speaker has seen his support jump 14 points since October.
"It's better than when I was at four [percent]," Gingrich said Monday on the campaign trail in Iowa.
But he cautions that anything could happen, saying that "this is the most volatile race of my lifetime."
The poll also indicates that 14% back businessman Herman Cain, down 11 points from last month. Four women have alleged that Cain sexually harassed them during the late 1990s when he headed the National Restaurant Association. Cain denies the allegations. Texas Gov. Rick Perry entered the race at the top of the pack but went into free-fall after a series of well-publicized stumbles. He sits at 12% in the CNN survey, basically tied with Cain.
So now it looks like it's Gingrich's turn to become the "anybody but Romney" candidate. If the GOP race becomes a two-man battle between Romney and Gingrich, the poll indicates they are well-matched. Romney and Gingrich are the two most popular Republican candidates among the GOP rank and file, and the only two with favorable ratings above 50% among the Republicans surveyed.
More than three-quarters of Republicans think both men have the right personal qualities to be president and more than seven in 10 Republicans say they agree with Gingrich and Romney on important issues.
"The key difference between Romney and Gingrich is electability. For the first time in CNN's polling, Romney now tops Barack Obama in a head-to-head matchup among registered voters. But Gingrich faces an 8-point deficit when paired with Obama in a general election matchup," CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/14/whats-behind-gingrichs-jump-in-the-polls
