Gingrich Somehow Trouncing Romney in Polls

Gulf between Republican voters, reality growing wider each week.

Newt Gingrich, the former Republican speaker of the house, has opened up a massive lead in public opinion polls over Mitt Romney with the start of the primary season just one month away. According to an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, Gingrich has the support of 40 per cent of Republican voters, 17 percentage points ahead of Romney, the former Massachusetts governor. Gingrich has risen to the top of the Republican field thanks in large part to other candidates – Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Michelle Bachmann – being, well, possibly drug addled/homophobic, a skirt-chaser, and borderline insane (and also very homophobic), respectively. Gingrich has excelled in debates, which has helped him overcome a personal history that includes three wives, being run out of Congress by his own party, lobbying on behalf of federal mortgage agency Freddie Mac, and ruthlessly pursuing Bill Clinton over his sexual indiscretions despite a litany of his own. He also might want to put 10-year-olds to work as janitors. But fear not, typical American voter: The poll also found that Romney was likely to do much better against Obama head-to-head than Gingrich, with Obama edging out Romney by 47 per cent to 45 per cent, and Obama leading Gingrich 51 per cent to 40 per cent. The Iowa Republican caucus vote is set for Jan. 3, followed by the New Hampshire primary on Jan. 10 and South Carolina on Jan. 25.