It’s true that Newt Gingrich is an aggressive debater, but that doesn’t mean Americans like him. In fact, Americans hate his guts. Conn Carroll assembled the data:
Not every poll releases their full results, so here are the most recent favorability results I could find for Obama, Romney, and Newt.
Fox News, 1/12-1/14:
Obama, fav/unfav, 51%/46%, +5
Romney, fav/unfav, 45%/38%, +7
Gingrich, fav/unfav, 27%/56%, -29CBS/NYT, 1/12-1/17:
Obama, fav/unfav, 38%/45%, -7
Romney, fav/unfav, 21%/35%, -14
Gingrich, fav/unfav, 17%/49%, -32PPP, 1/13-1/17:
Obama, app/dis, 47%/50%, -3
Romney, fav/unfav, 35%/53%, -18
Gingrich, fav/unfav, 26%/60%, -34
Newt can score easy points with Republican base-voters by attacking the media and making obnoxiously racist comments, but that doesn’t endear him to the broader electorate.
People hate Santorum, too, but he’s less famous.
The thing is, the Republican base really doesn’t care that most people loath Newt Gingrich. The Republican base loathes the people who loath Newt Gingrich.
This election is going very well.
Did you see Atrios’ latest post? It encapsulates very well why Gingrich is poised to kick butt in S.C.
Maybe someone can explained to me how is it that a FoxNews poll has Obama with higher favorable than the “mainstream, non-partisan” polls???
All the candidates have higher ratings on Fox, so it must be how they asked the question.
Also, Fox has the smallest difference between Obama and the Republican candidates.
“The Republican base loathes the people who loath Newt Gingrich.”
Yep, that’s us.
And that’s the problem.
Those high negatives are among people who aren’t going to vote Republican no matter who their candidate is.
There is a real danger he could win despite them.
And he will use Obama as a punching bag in the campaign.