He's got Newt-mentum! The former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, is surging in polls across the country. Today, Democrat polling firm Public Policy Polling (PPP) released a poll showing Gingrich as the leading preference of Colorado Republicans, taking 37% to Romney's 18%. PPP surveyed 500 "usual Colorado GOP primary voters" with a margin of error of +/-4.4%.
You can find the full results for the poll here (PDF).
That marks a 29-point jump for Gingrich from August–the last time PPP polled Colorado–and a four-point drop for Romney in the same time period.
With this poll, and many others, it looks like we might have to retract some analysis we made after the CNBC debate where we said we didn't think Gingrich would be the nominee but someone should get him in a Cabinet post in 2013.
Frankly, we thought Gingrich was toast last spring when he attacked Paul Ryan's entitlement reform plan.
Guess both we and F. Scott Fitzgerald, who said there are no second acts in American life, should be eating our words.
Gingrich's surge is made more real than either Rick Perry or Michele Bachmann's previous dalliances atop national polling, as he is winning both self-identified Tea Partiers as well as moderate voters.
With Tea Party members in Colorado, Gingrich is spanking Romney 42-9. Even with moderate voters in CO, Gingrich is topping Romney 26-22.
Perhaps the only silver lining for Romney is Gingrich's support is tepid at this point, with only 36% of Gingrich's supporters sure of their pick at this point. Though, that's not saying much, as only 35% of Romney supporters say they are committed to him.
One thing this poll confirms, along with many other recent ones, is that this race is fluid. Only a couple weeks ago almost no one could have foreseen a hard charging Newt Gingrich rising to the top of every poll.
With Christmas break fast approaching, giving opponents less of an opportunity to take him down a notch, Newt may have risen at exactly the right time.
My take: http://bit.ly/rG8bev