Mitt Romney surges ahead of Newt Gingrich in opinion polls

Written By Lalit K Jha | Updated:

A win at Florida should lock up the Republican presidential nomination in Romney's favour and yet Gingrich has threatened to make it a fight all the way.

Ahead of the make or break Florida Republican primary tomorrow, Mitt Romney appears to be surging ahead in opinion polls against his nearest rival Newt Gingrich, as the two top presidential hopefuls intensified their war of words.

A win at Florida would all but lock up the Republican presidential nomination in Romney's favour and yet still former House of Representatives Speaker Gingrich has threatened to make it a fight all the way to the republican final convention in August.

Romney, who many believe would ultimately bag Republican nomination to challenge incumbent Barack Obama in the November presidential elections, is leading by 15 points according to a latest NBC/Marxist poll against Gingrich.

In other polls too Romney, former Massachusetts Governor, is leading by double digit margin.

But bitterly enriched from its experience in South Florida, where Romney lost to former House of Representatives Speaker Gingrich after an initially double digit lead, his campaign is leaving nothing to chance.

The Romney campaign which is not short of money has launched an onslaught of negative advertisement campaign against Gingrich in Florida, pumping in millions of dollars this week. In fact, Romney himself is leading the frontal attack against Gingrich, reflected in his campaign speeches in Florida yesterday.

"Your (Gingrich) problem in Florida is that you worked for Freddie Mac at a time that Freddie Mac was not doing the right thing for the American people, and that you are selling influence in Washington at a time when we needed people to stand up for the truth in Washington," Romney said in one of his campaign speeches in Naples, Florida.