If the new NBC/WSJ poll is correct, Newt Gingrich is now qualified to write a book called “How to Lose Friends and Influence Among Voting People.”
Forty-eight percent have a negative opinion of Gingrich — an all-time high in the poll, even higher than it was during the Lewinsky scandal and Bill Clinton’s impeachment when Gingrich was speaker.
By comparison, just 16 percent have a favorable opinion of the presidential hopeful, which is down eight points since April.
Peter D. Hart, who conducted the survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff, says the numbers demonstrated Gingrich’s “total and complete implosion.”
“His numbers have just dropped,” Hart adds.
The shift among Republicans is especially striking. In April, Gingrich’s favorable/unfavorable rating with all Republicans surveyed in the poll was 46 percent – 11 percent. Now, it’s 28 percent – 33 percent.
And among Republican primary voters, it went from 50 percent – 13 percent. to 32 percent – 34 percent.
“That’s a fairly decided switch, even from Republicans,” McInturff says.
It seems the more people have seen of him the less they’ve liked him — and they now seeing a lot more of him than usual.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.