Poll: Newt Gingrich Pulls 14 Points Ahead of Mitt Romney

A Pew Research Center poll released today shows yet another lead for Newt Gingrich, with the GOP frontrunner earning 35 percent of the vote among Republican and right-leaning independent voters and Romney garnering just 21 percent.

The poll, conducted Dec. 7-11, did find that Gingrich and Romney were both struggling to find a large base of loyal supporters; only 33 percent of Romney backers supported him strongly and only 29 percent said Gingrich was the only candidate they'd vote for. [GOP Rivals Likely to Gang Up on Gingrich.]

Of the more than 1,000 likely voters polled, more than one third said they would consider voting for either Gingrich or Romney, showing support for a nominee hasn't gelled.

Only 18 percent said they could never vote for Gingrich, while 26 percent said they wouldn't consider voting for Romney.

Garnering 35 percent of the Tea Party vote, Gingrich seems to have emerged as the new Tea Party darling following the suspension of the Herman Cain campaign. However 60 percent of Tea Party Republicans say they have not ruled out voting for Gingrich, the poll said.

• See political cartoons on the GOP hopefuls.
• See who's in and out of the GOP race.
  
• See a slide show of Newt Gingrich's career.

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