Gingrich’s commanding Iowa lead
By Norman Leahy | Thursday, November 17th, 2011 | PoliticsScott Rasmussen’s poll of likely GOP Iowa caucus attendees finds former House Speaker Newt Gingrich with a wide lead over the rest of the field:
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely Iowa Republican caucus-goers shows Gingrich with 32% followed by former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney at 19%. Georgia businessman Herman Cain, who led in Iowa last month, drops to third with 13% of the vote. Texas Congressman Ron Paul draws 10% of the vote in Iowa, while Texas Governor Rick Perry and Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann each grab six percent (6%).
Newt. Really? Yes. And the certainty is growing:
Thirty-eight percent (38%) of Iowa GOP caucus voters are now certain of their vote and don’t expect to change their minds, up from 32% in mid-October. Of those voters who are certain, 30% pick Gingrich, 21% prefer Romney, 16% like Cain and 13% support Paul.
Okay. But what if their man doesn’t end up winning it all?
If their favorite candidate does not win the nomination, 77% of Iowa caucus-goers say they’d still vote for the GOP candidate. Twelve percent (12%) would vote for Obama. If Romney wins the nomination, 32% would consider voting for a third-party candidate, with 16% who would be Very Likely to do so.
Only 73% of Romney voters say they’d vote for the GOP candidate if their man does not win the nomination. Among supporters of Gingrich, Cain, and Perry, nine-out-of-ten are committed to voting for the party nominee.
Interesting. And how about Iowa tea partiers? What might they do?
Ninety percent (90%) of Tea Party activists will vote for whoever the party nominates. However, just 69% of non-Tea Party members express that much loyalty to the GOP.
Again, very interesting.
But back to Gingrich for a second.
Newt? Really? I understand that some folks are looking for anyone besides Romney. But consider this bit from Gene Healy’s Examiner piece on the man:
The former speaker’s immense self-regard is evident in one of the exhibits to a 1997 House Ethics Committee report on him. In a handwritten 1992 note to himself, he wrote: “Gingrich — primary mission, Advocate of civilization, definer of civilization, Teacher of the rules of civilization, arouser of those who fan civilization, … leader (possibly) of the civilizing forces.”
Go read the rest and, if you happen to be among those who, like a third of Iowa Republicans, gets the tingles over Gingrich, ask yourself whether you want an “arouser” anywhere near the Oval Office.
Then go take a cold shower.
Tags:
Contribute for Conservatism!
Share this post
About the author
Norm Leahy has written about Virginia and national politics online since 2002, beginning with One Man's Trash (OMT), and continuing through Bacon's Rebellion (both the blog and the e-zine), Sic Semper Tyrannis, NBC12's Decision Virginia, Richmond.com and Tertium Quids. He is the chief blogger at "The Score" and a producer of "The Score" radio show as well as being a Washington Examiner contributor.
We're 75% there! Thank you to everyone who has so far contributed! Just $2000 to go!
Comments
13 Responses to "Gingrich’s commanding Iowa lead"
“Gingrich’s commanding Iowa lead.”
This Week.
Good for Gingrich. Glad we have at least ONE candidate who aspires to really BE a leader, not just a vote-harvester.
Norm. Not sure what your point here is except you don’t like Newt Gingrich. If you vote in Iowa, you will have plenty of other options. If you don’t vote in Iowa, I’d say you are wasting oxygen here.
First, in a match up of Newt versus Barack, Barack gets my vote.
But I find it interesting that Newt is charging to the head of the pack of Republican candidates. After Newt left office, he did exhibit some genuinely moderate stances on many issues.
So why does he still not get my vote? He has that problem with his personal relationships. I think these problems are evidence of a serious character flaw. I am not above forgiving a man for past mistakes, but I am not sure that after forgiveness calls for then elevating the forgiven to the highest pedestal our nation has.
However, of all the Republican candidates as for as politics go, Newt is on the top of my list. That is why I am shocked he could become the Republican front runner.
We Can Solve It dot org.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi6n_-wB154
Well, who else are the “Not Romney” folks going to turn to at this point? Bachmann, Caine and Perry have let them down…Santorum’s not a serious option. Neither is Paul for non-libertarians. Huntsman? If they were going to be for Huntsman,they might as well be for Mitt. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Gingrich end up being the last “Not Mitt” standing. Could he win the general? I think he’d have less of shot than Perry…but he might have a shot…if he can buy his baggage and avoid saying something stupid.
Hold your nose and listen to this. Innoculation aint pretty but nessecary.. http://www.dickmorris.com/blog/attacks-are-immunizing-gop-contenders-dick-morris-tv-lunch-alert/
Not a fan of Dick Morris but this is pretty spot on me thinks.
I looked a little deeper into Newt’s proposals for where America should go if he were President. I looked at his new “Contract”.
The man proposes destroying the American Way. No way I could support putting such a subversive into the Oval Office. But that appears to be the case with all the Republican hopefuls, even Huntsman.
I guess that is a big part of the reason I am a Democrat. All the Republican politicians are so Un-American.
LD, Dems are no better and no worser.
Turbo,
Dems are not advocates of a flat tax. Dems are in favor of continuing with a progressive tax system.
We have a two party system, and there are differences between the two parties. When it comes to taxes, Republicans want to destroy the American Way.
LD, thats BS. Neither wants to destroy anything, they are just both too greedy and manipulative in their zeal to win the next election and will say or do anything to stay in power. You dems and you republicans got us here and we the people are slowly waking up. Our cultural elite in government are molding laws that control peoples lives and in the process constrain our liberty via oppressive tax laws. Your party is differentiating itself by pounding away at the moral vision of the founding fathers while the gop has pounded away at your political correctness BS.. Bur both are failing.. Yeah we have a two party system and together they are destroying the American Way because we keep electing these nitwits.
I think a “flat” tax can still be progressive. What we need is a tax that is a “flat percentage of income. No deductions (none, not mortgage, not dependents, NONE!), no difference between wages and capital gains, no deductions for investing in the ghetto, no deductions for municipal bonds. Especially, no deductions for green energy! Stop using the tax code for social engineering and fairly use it to raise funds to operate the Goverment.
RickRyan,
What you are in favor of is just about the exact opposite of a progressive tax system. Under a progressive tax, the lower class pays little or nothing, the middle class pays some and the wealthy pay more.
A progressive tax system is part of the American Way!
Leave your response