One week ago, Mitt Romney amassed a record 23-point lead in Gallup tracking polls. But in the latest poll released Monday, the former Massachusetts governor’s advantage has evaporated to a single percentage point among Republican-leaning registered voters, as the former House speaker has surged yet again after falling hard in late December. Romney now stands at 29 percent to Gingrich’s 28 percent, a difference that is within the poll’s margin of error.
While there is no national Republican primary and such polls seem to have become a trailing indicator of the latest state-level contests, the Gallup poll demonstrates that Romney has lost ground in the majority of the country where voters will host primaries and caucuses in the coming months.
It also demonstrates that Gingrich’s surging popularity after two well-received debate performances took place not just in South Carolina - where he won Saturday’s primary - but across the U.S. In South Carolina, Gingrich beat Romney by 50 to 22 percent among voters who said debates were an important factor in their vote, according to network exit polls.
A portrait of black women - A newly released Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation survey paints a complex portrait of black women in America. Nearly three quarters of this group says it’s a good time to be a black woman in America. Two thirds of black women “strongly agree” that they have high self-esteem and say it’s “very important” to be successful in a career, both higher than among white women. At the same time, nearly four in 10 black women are “very worried” about having enough money to pay their bills and provide a good education to their children. “Religion is essential to most black women’s lives; being in a romantic relationship is not,” writes Post reporter Krissah Thompson. You can read the full article from today’s paper here, and explore the survey results on this page.
Americans get tablets for Christmas - Tablet and e-reader ownership nearly doubled over the holiday season, according to survey released Monday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Roughly one in five adults says they own a tablet computer in January, such as an iPad, and a similar number owns an e-reader device, both up from one in 10 in early December.
The rise in tablet ownership was particularly sharp among adults with higher incomes and educations. Currently, over three in 10 college grads and incomes of at least $75,000 own a tablet computer. By contrast, 20 percent of fewer of those with lower incomes and educations own a tablet. Higher income groups also are more apt than those with lower incomes to own e-readers, though the gap is not as stark.
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