Newt Leads Mitt, But Not by Much

A new Reason-Rupe Poll of 1,200 adults on cell phones and landlines finds former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to be the most favored candidate among Republican and Republican-leaning voters to win the GOP presidential nomination at 27 percent. However, his lead is narrow, with Mitt Romney coming in at 25 percent. Next is Ron Paul at 7 percent, while 22 percent say they are still undecided.

If you were voting today in the 2012 Republican primary for president, which one of the following candidates would you favor?  (asked of Republicans and Republican Leaners)

 

When these voters are split between Republican-leaners and Republicans, the results flip. Among Republican-leaners, Mitt Romney leads the pack with 28 percent, followed by Newt Gingrich at 19 percent, and Ron Paul at 10 percent. Among Republicans, Gingrich leads at 30 percent, followed by Romney at 24 percent, and Ron Paul at 6 percent. Among pure independents, defined as those who do not lean toward either party, Ron Paul leads with 19 percent, while Gingrich and Romney are tied at 9 percent.

If you were voting today in the 2012 Republican primary for president, which one of the following candidates would you favor? (asked of Republicans, Republican Leaners, and Independents)

The poll also asked all Americans who would be their last choice to become president out of the the aforementioned list of Republican presidential candidates. Michele Bachmann won with 17 percent followed by Newt Gingrich at 12 percent.

Of this list of Republican presidential candidates, who would be your last choice to become president? (Asked of all respondents)

 

 

Find full Reason-Rupe Q4 2011 poll results, question wording, and methodology here. 

The Reason-Rupe Q4 2011 poll collected a nationally representative sample of 1200 respondents, aged 18 and older from all 50 states and the District of Columbia using live telephone interviews from December 1-13. Interviews were conducted on both landline and mobile phones. The margin of sampling error for this poll is +/- 3 percent. Questions on the GOP presidential primary were collected from December 3rd-13th, have a sample size of 1029, and a ± 5 percent margin of error.

Follow Emily Ekins on Twitter @emilyekins