I’ve seen a ton of headlines this week that read something like “Gingrich in free fall,” “Gingrich sliding,” “Newt imploding,” etc.  He’s had a pretty fair response:  ”Well, when you have other candidates running $9 million of negative ads against you, most of them untrue, it makes sense.”  These headlines are usually followed by some glowing review of Ron Paul‘s candidacy and his ‘surge.’  (have you noticed how all of the liberals are now praising Paul?)  The latest buzz, in the last 48 hours or so, has been all about Rick Santorum‘s surge in Iowa.  But is Newt really tanking and are Paul & Santorum really competing nationally? 

This graph from Gallup’s tracking poll does show a decline for Gingrich since 12/4, after Herman Cain exited the race and Newt meteorically rose in the polls.  However, it shows the former speaker tied with Romney for 1st place, and Ron Paul still lagging well behind the pack, with Santorum still in single digits:

Gallup will update these numbers at 1:00 EST today.

Nic Horton