Polls: Gingrich Has Big Leads In Iowa, South Carolina

A new round of polls shows that Newt Gingrich is way ahead of the field in both the Iowa caucus and the South Carolina primary.

According to an InsiderAdvantage/Majority Opinion Research survey, Gingrich leads the race in Iowa at 28 percent. Ron Paul is in second place with 13 percent, followed by Mitt Romney with 11 percent and Michele Bachmann with 10 percent. 14 percent of respondents have no opinion, and 3 percent responded “someone else.”

Surprisingly, Gingrich — who has been married three times — has a dominant lead among women, attracting 33 percent of female voters’ support. It’s also worth noting that not a single respondent under the age of 30 supported Gingrich in the poll; those voters were split evenly with 47 percent supporting Paul and 47 percent supporting Bachmann.

Another InsiderAdvantage/Majority Opinion Research poll shows Gingrich with an even more dominant lead in the race for the South Carolina primary. According to the poll, Gingrich has more than twice the support of any other candidate in the Palmetto State; 38 percent of respondents support Gingrich, compared to just 15 percent for Romney and 13 percent for Herman Cain. No other candidate reached double digits in the poll, which has a 4 percent margin of error.

“Gingrich has consolidated a substantial lead among those who consider themselves Republicans, which are the more long-time GOP voters,” said InsiderAdvantage CEO Matt Towery. “The independents who had supported Cain are moving to Gingrich as well.”

Gingrich’s big leads in two of the first three Republican presidential contests confirm that he is the latest consensus “anti-Romney” candidate. They also suggest that he has a real chance of capturing the nomination; if his support holds up, Gingrich’s momentum after his two big wins would be difficult for Romney to overcome. It remains to be seen, however, whether Gingrich can hold onto his leads for 5 more weeks — something that previous front-runners Bachmann, Perry, and Cain failed to do — and actually win when the voting begins.