Poll: Gingrich leads in MN

Posted at 1:14 PM on January 25, 2012 by Tom Scheck (2 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2012, U.S. House, U.S. Senate

Public Policy Polling says former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is leading the field of Republican presidential candidates. The poll of 303 likely Caucus goers found that Gingrich has an 18 point lead over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

The poll found that Gingrich has the support of 36 percent of those polled. Romney garnered support from 18 percent. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum received 17 percent support. Texas Congressman Ron Paul received 13 percent. 15 percent of those polled said they aren't sure.

Pollster Tom Jensen says the poll is good news for Gingrich since he's winning among several groups including self-described Tea Partiers, non-Tea Partiers, self-described Republicans and independents. But he said Gingrich shouldn't get too comfortable because many of those polled are open to changing their minds.

"The race in Minnesota is incredibly fluid," Jenson wrote. "15% of voters are undecided and out of the 85% who do have a current preference, 63% say they could change their minds between now and the caucus in two weeks. That leaves almost 70% of the electorate up for grabs in the closing stretch and it seems likely that the Florida results could have a significant result on the psyche of Minnesota voters. If Romney comes back to win in the Sunshine State it could result in significant improvement in his Minnesota numbers."

You can read the full poll here.

Comments (2)

Not a big surprise ... if my memory serves me correctly, Gingrich won the MN-GOP Straw Poll in 2007 but then when he did not run in 2008, Romney won the caucus ... promptiing Michele Bachmann to say that McCain was the media's choice.

Posted by Minnesota Central | January 25, 2012 9:47 PM

Which is to say that Minnesota Republicans are no smarter that South Carolina Republicans. At least 109 of those that responded. Seriously, such a small sampling means nothing.

Posted by Jim | January 26, 2012 7:26 AM

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