Yesterday Newt made the audacious claim to being the presumptive Republican nominee to eye rolls and face palms from some observers in some quarters. If you still doubt Newt could have what it takes to derail the Romney Juggernaut this latest Florida Poll shows that he probably already has in this important and big early state.
Newt Gingrich stomps Mitt Romney in Florida poll
Newt Gingrich is ahead of Mitt Romney by a wide margin in Florida, a key GOP primary state. Will the surge last?
By David Grant, DCDecoder / December 2, 2011
WASHINGTON
Newt Gingrich is blowing up in the polls – everywhere. But his lead is huge in Florida, a key early primary state. He's benefiting from Herman Cain's collapse in the wake of allegations of sexual harassment and the claim of a 13-year affair with single-mother Ginger White.
Here’s the shattering results from the Florida Times-Union poll:
NEWT GINGRICH - 41%
MITT ROMNEY - 17%
HERMAN CAIN - 13%
RICK PERRY - 7%
RON PAUL - 4%
MICHELE BACHMANN - 3%
RICK SANTORUM - 1%
Stomped is a pretty strong way to describe Newt's overwhelming lead in this Florida poll. Of course over the last several months Republican primary voters have been a fickle bunch, coalescing around one non-Romney candidate after another, like an anti-Diogenes searching for a paragon of dishonesty.
Many Republican primary voters distrust the elite's favorite Stepford Husband Mitt Romney, as Jed points out in his latest front page post about Romney's rising unfavorables among Republicans. Romney's strategy of keeping a low profile while his opponents campaigns unraveled disastrously one after another may have worked against Romney by diminishing him in the eyes of Republican Primary voters. Voters who prefer candidates who aren't afraid to use a rhetorical flame thrower against the far right's favorite scapegoats.