Presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich’s lead over Mitt Romney has narrowed, according to a new Gallup poll.
Currently, Gingrich leads the former Massachusetts Governor among likely Republican voters by 31 percent to 22 percent, a six point drop from earlier this month, when the margin was 37 to 22 percent.
Gingrich’s slight drop comes as he cements his frontrunner status, thus becoming a larger target for criticism from fellow Republicans and Democrats alike.
The former Speaker’s surge to the top of the GOP pack has shaken the long-held conventional wisdom that Romney will be the de-facto nominee. Occurring just weeks before key early primaries, Romney’s time to regain his lead is diminishing.
No other candidate gained the points Gingrich shed. Instead, there was a 5 percent uptick in those who said they were undecided.
The same poll also found that Republican voters are closely divided over who would stand a better shot at unseating President Barack Obama. 44 percent replied that Gingrich would be the best man for the job opposed to 40 percent who said Romney.
The poll was conducted among 1,167 Republican or Republican leaning voters between December 8th through the 12th.