Two new national polls of the Republican primary race show very different results in the horserace, but do agree on one thing: Newt Gingrich is rocketing upwards.
The new CNN poll, among Republican respondents: Romney 24%, Gingrich 22%, Cain 14%, Perry 12%, Paul 8%, Bachmann 6%, Huntsman 3%, and Santorum 3%. In CNN’s previous poll from a month ago, Romney had 26%, Cain 25%, Perry 13%, and all others in single digits (including Gingrich at 8%).
And the new numbers from Public Policy Polling (D): Gingrich 28%, Cain 25%, Romney 18%, Perry 6%, Bachmann 5%, Paul 5%, Huntsman 3%, Santorum 1%, and Johnson 1%.
In the previous PPP survey from a month ago, Cain led with 30%, followed by Romney at 22%, Gingrich at 15%, Perry at 14%, and all others in single digits.
The two polls also show Newt Gingrich currently having the best favorable ratings among Republican voters.
In the CNN pol, Gingrich’s favorable ratings among GOPers is 61%, to only 21% unfavorable. This is followed by Romney at 55%-27%, Cain at 47%-31%, Perry at 43%-37%, Bachmann at 41%-33%, Santorum at 30%-22%, and Huntsman at 19%-22%.
And in the PPP numbers, Gingrich’s numbers are 68%-23%, compared to 57%-31% for Cain, 48%-39% for Romney, followed by Bachmann at 40%-41%, Perry at 35%-49%, and Paul at 31%-52%.
The polls also explored the ongoing story surrounding the accusations that have been made against Herman Cain, involving alleged past sexual harassment.
For CNN’s sample of all American adults — not just Republicans — they also asked: “Who do you tend to believe — the women who have made these charges, or Herman Cain?” The answer 50% for the women, to only 33% for Cain — but among the Republican sub-sample only, the answer was the other way around at Cain 53%, the women 28%.
Similarly, CNN also asked all respondents: “Do you generally think the news media have behaved responsibly or irresponsibly in their coverage of the charges against Herman Cain?” The answer was a 48%-48% tie int he wider pool, but among Republicans it stood at only 36% saying the media have behaved responsibly, to 62% saying they have behaved responsibly.
PPP also asked their Republican respondents a variety of questions about the accusations. The results were very positive for Cain:
Q8. Do you think allegations of sexual harassment against Herman Cain that came out this week are mostly true or false?
Mostly true – 24%
Mostly false.54%
Not sure – 22%Q9. Is your opinion of Herman Cain now more positive, more negative, or unchanged from what it was before these allegations came out?
More positive 9%
More negative – 26%
Unchanged – 63%
Not sure. 2%Q10. Do you think that the media’s treatment of Herman Cain this week has been mostly fair or unfair?
Mostly fair – 26%
Mostly unfair – 61%
Not sure – 13%
