Gingrich Sinking In FL, Romney Regains Lead
Posted by Ashish on 01.26.2012
Newt has a lot riding on tonight's debate...
Three new polls out today show that Newt Gingrich's momentum is now gone and he is actually falling in the polls as Mitt Romney has regained the lead in Florida.
Just as fast as he rose, Gingrich is sinking again. I said in my debate analysis on Monday night that Gingrich played it way too safe at the last debate and that it would cost him, and it has. He is a candidate that relies almost exclusively on zippy, anger-filled, buzz-worthy debate moments to keep him afloat. Without them, his support erodes quickly. He tried to act like the frontrunner on Monday, and as I've been saying, he is not in position to do that. He always has to act like the angry rebel. One "normal" debate from him and his support sinks, as these polls again indicate.
With that said, he'll need another noteworthy debate performance tonight to reverse the shift to Romney in time for Tuesday's vote, otherwise he won't win.
And in some other key polling data, here are the numbers the Obama campaign is counting on: Romney and Gingrich both have negative favorability ratings (31% view Romney positively, 36% negative while 26% view Gingrich positively and 48% view him negatively), while Obama's remains positive (50% view him positively, 39% view him negatively). That likability advantage will be big in the general election.
STAY CURRENT