Two new polls are out for the Republican primary race in Florida — with both of them showing Newt Gingrich suddenly jumping into a huge lead.
And remember: Because Florida jumped the primary calendar to Jan. 31, throwing its weight around as a large swing state, this primary is a big one.
The numbers from Public Policy Polling (D): Gingrich 47%, Romney 17%, Herman Cain 15%, Ron Paul 5%, Michele Bachmann 4%, Jon Huntsman 3%, Rick Perry 2%, Rick Santorum 1%, and Gary Johnson 0%.
In the previous PPP survey of Florida Republicans, from all the way back in late September, Romney led with 30%, followed by Perry at 25%, with Newt in third at 10%, Paul at 8%, Cain at 7%, Bachmann at 6%, Huntsman at 3%, Santorum at 2%, and Johnson at 1%.
From the pollster’s analysis for Florida and Montana, where Gingrich is also leading:
As strong as Gingrich is in these polls there’s still evidence he could get stronger. Despite his troubles this week, which voters may not yet be fully aware of, Cain hit double digits on both of these polls. If his declining support bottoms out after the newest set of revelations, Gingrich will be the beneficiary. 45% of Cain voters in Florida say he is their second choice to only 13% for Romney and in Montana Cain backers prefer Newt over Romney 35-11 as a back up.
And from InsiderAdvantage (R): Gingrich 41%, Romney 17%, Cain 13%, Perry 7%, Paul 4%, Bachmann 3%, and Santorum 0.5%. (Huntsman and Johnson were not listed.)
In the previous InsiderAdvantage poll from mid-October, Romney led with 33%, followed by Cain at 30%, Gingrich at 12%, Perry at 3%, Paul at 3%, Bachmann at 2%, and Huntsman at 0.2%.
