Public Policy Polling
New data from Public Policy Polling research shows that Brian Ross’s interview with Marianne Gingrich may have actually helped her ex-husband Newt Gingrich with voters, rather than hurt him. And John King’s question about it at Thursday night’s debate may have only fed distrust of the media. Here are the findings:
Gingrich’s lead has actually increased in the wake of his ex-wife’s controversial interview with ABC. Although one-night poll results should always be interpreted with caution, he led the final night of the field period by a 40-26 margin.
One thing that continues to work to his advantage are the debates. 60% of primary voters report having watched the one last night, and Gingrich has a 46-23 lead with those folks. The other reason his ex-wife’s interview isn’t causing him much trouble is that there’s a lot of skepticism about it. Only 31% of voters say they think her accusations are true while 35% think they are false and 34% are unsure. 51% of voters say that they have ‘no concerns’ about what came out in the interview.
The skepticism of Republican voters toward the media is helping Gingrich as well. Just 14% of likely voters have a generally favorable opinion of the media, while 77% view it negatively. Gingrich’s attacks on the media have clearly played well with the party base.
PPP surveyed 1,540 likely Republican primary voters from Jan. 18-20. || Related: Erik Wemple “translates” Gingrich’s debate answer to what he was really thinking (Washington Post) | Politico says Gingrich and the press are actually “secret pals” (Politico) || Earlier: 10 reasons Gingrich is right about John King’s debate question (Poynter.org)
