Not pictured: Google search king
Rick Santorum (gross!) and former Obama aide Jon Huntsman.
Gallup for USA Today. November 13-17. Republicans and Republican-leaning registered voters. ±4%. (No trend.)
Newt Gingrich: 22
Mitt Romney: 21
Herman Cain: 16
Ron Paul: 9
Rick Perry: 8
Michele Bachmann: 4
Jon Huntsman: 1
Rick Santorum: 1
Newt Gingrich as flavor-of-the-month is old news, but this poll provides yet more validation to that storyline. Previously, Gallup didn't report results from registered voters only, so if you want to compare trends, you have to look at the numbers without screening for registered voter status. (Presumably, if you're not a registered voter, you're very unlikely to vote in the primary, but the numbers aren't that different from the screened ones.) With that said, here's the trend:
Again, the story is pretty clear and well-known: of the four candidates who have led the field at some point since August, Mitt Romney is the least volatile of the bunch. The rest keep on trading places as the Not Romney. And the question is whether Romney's relative stability is a sign of strength or weakness. In other words, does his support have a ceiling ... or does it have a floor. (I'm not sure why his campaign hasn't pushed back on the ceiling narrative with that language, actually.)
As for the other candidates, Herman Cain must be pleased to be in fairly decent shape after having such a terrible first two weeks of November. Rick Perry is still probably muttering himself about what went wrong. (Here's a hint: given the choice between a guy who jokes about electrifying immigrants and a guy who says it's heartless to deny children access to education, Republicans will choose the electrifier every time.)
And as for Newt Gingrich, I'd say he has no shot at winning the nomination ... if Republican voters weren't trapped in the reality-distortion field known as the conservative media. But if he can manage to keep the right-wing media on his side (I'm skeptical), then he might really have a shot at this. Here's to hoping.