Women back Romney over Gingrich by 19 percentage points, a commanding lead that was also reflected in the NBC News/Marist poll released today. That poll shows Romney ahead 42 percent to 27 percent overall and up 47-26 percent among women.
In the Miami Herald/El Nuevo Herald/Tampa Bay Times poll, Romney gets 52 percent of Hispanic voters, compared with 28 percent for Gingrich. Romney is also polling ahead of Obama among Hispanic voters in Florida. Romney got 53 percent, compared with 37 percent for Obama. Florida has a heavy Cuban population, which tends to vote for Republicans.
Romney is running strongest in Southeast Florida, which his campaign has targeted after losing much of the region four years ago to Senator John McCain.
Romney has been endorsed by several key Hispanic Floridians, including representatives Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and former representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart.
“He scored the trifecta of Cuban-American support down there. That was a big shift from four years ago. They were all with McCain four years ago,” Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, the Romney campaign’s Florida chairman, said in a recent interview. “South Florida, I think you’ll see a big swing.”
The poll was conducted Jan. 24 to 26 among 800 registered Florida voters who are likely to vote in the general election, with an over sampling of likely Republican primary voters. For general election questions, the survey had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points. For Republican primary questions, it was 4.5 percentage points.
The survey was done by Mason Dixon Polling and Research.
Romney’s surge follows a string of attacks in debates and TV ads against Gingrich that aimed to slow the former House speaker’s momentum from last Saturday’s victory in the South Carolina primary.
Gingrich decried Romney’s methods today, saying the former Massachusetts governor was “carpet bombing” his record as Tuesday’s vote neared.
“I don’t know how you debate a person with civility if they’re prepared to say things that are just plain factually false,” Gingrich said during appearances on Sunday talk shows. “I think the Republican establishment believes it’s OK to say and do virtually anything to stop a genuine insurgency from winning because they are very afraid of losing control of the old order.”
Romney hit back at Gingrich while campaigning in Naples, Fla., accusing him of making excuses about a pair of flat debate performances last week and once again reminding voters about Gingrich’s consulting contract with Freddie Mac. Conservatives blame Freddie and Fannie Mae, both quasi-government agencies, for accelerating the housing meltdown, a critical issue among Florida’s homeowners.
“He’s now finding excuses wherever he can,” Romney said. “But you know, we have a president who has a lot of excuses, and the excuses are over. It’s time to produce.”
