Election 2012: Obama 50%, Gingrich 38%

President Obama has opened a wider gap over Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich, even as the former House Speaker seems to be enjoying a bounce in support nationally among Republican primary voters.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely Voters finds Obama earning 50% support to Gingrich’s 38%.  Five percent (5%) favor another candidate, while seven percent (7%) are undecided. This marks Obama's best showing in recent weeks against any of the GOP presidential contenders. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Earlier this month, Obama held just a six-point lead over Gingrich - 44% to 38%.  In early October, Obama led Gingrich by 15 points – 49% to 34%.  Gingrich trailed the president 48% to 30% in June and by nearly the same margin in mid-March.

Due in part to his strong showing in the debates and some stumbling by other candidates, Gingrich has moved into a distant third among the presidential contenders in Rasmussen Reports’ latest survey of Likely GOP Primary Voters.  The former speaker now runs third among Likely Republican Voters in Florida and South Carolina and fourth in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Among all Likely Voters in Missouri, Obama edges Gingrich by a much narrower 47% to 43%.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney remains the most competitive of the Republican hopefuls among all voters, but Georgia businessman Herman Cain has edged ahead of him among Likely Republican Primary Voters.  Following the disclosure of sexual harassment allegations leveled against him, Cain is running less competitively against the president and now trails him by 11 points.

Of the top contenders for the GOP presidential nomination, Romney also is viewed most favorably by all voters, while Texas Governor Rick Perry is the least liked. Romney is the GOP candidate voters consider the most qualified to be president  and is seen as closer to the political mainstream than any of the other candidates for the White House, including Obama. 

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The national survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on November 11-12, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.