Newsmax/InsiderAdvantage Poll: Gingrich in Dead Heat With Romney, Paul in Iowa



Thursday, 29 Dec 2011 12:37 PM
By Paul Scicchitano



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With days to go before the Iowa caucuses, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is surging to a statistical dead heat with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Rep. Ron Paul, according to a new Newsmax/InsiderAdvantage poll.

The Iowa contest is now in “total and complete chaos, ” declares Insider Advantage chief pollster Matt Towery, who says this weekend’s final campaign push will be decisive.

Insider Advantage polled 429 registered Republicans on Wednesday who are likely to vote in the Jan. 3 caucuses.

“It’s almost as if we’re starting all over again and the weekend is going to decide who wins Iowa.”

The Newsmax/InsiderAdvantage poll shows Gingrich, Romney, and Paul in a statistical tie, with each getting 17 percent support of likely GOP voters in Iowa.

The top three candidates are followed by former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum with 13 percent support; Rep. Michele Bachmann at 12 percent; Texas Gov. Rick Perry, 11 percent; and former Utah Gov. and Am****ador to China Jon Huntsman with 3 percent — statistically tied in last place with an unnamed candidate.

The poll revealed that 7 percent of voters still had no opinion or were undecided, with an overall margin for error of 4.7 percent.

“I think we’re saying that the race has become so tight that it’s not only hard to predict the winner, it’s hard to predict who might emerge from among the second tier,” said Towery, whose final Iowa poll has never failed to predict the eventual winner.

This year’s final Newsmax/InsiderAdvantage poll will be conducted on Jan. 1 and released on Jan. 2