Gingrich takes lead over Obama in poll

NEWT GINGRICH has for the first time taken the lead over US President Barack Obama in a national poll.

Gingrich’s surge in the Rasmussen poll came as Republican governors, who swept to big victories last year, believe President Obama faces huge political obstacles ahead of the 2012 election.

The former House speaker leads Obama 45% to 43%,

While Gingrich leads the president only in the Rasmussen tally and still trails Obama by nearly six points in the Real Clear Politics composite of seven major polls, it will come as a major boost as his campaign appears to have risen from the dead. He was previously six points behind Obama.

The poll has pushed him past Herman Cain, who is facing an extramarital affair scandal, as the candidate most likely to topple party front-runner, Mitt Romney.

While Republicans may be rejoicing at closing the gap on Obama, caution is being heavily employed.

Meeting this week in Florida, governors and their advisers worried their party could lose its advantage on the tax-cut issue by appearing too eager to protect the rich. Some also warned Republican candidates not to reflexively dismiss anti-Wall Street sentiment, which might be seeping more deeply into the middle class than they realise.

Publicly, the governors predict Obama will be a one-term president. But few have endorsed any of their party’s candidates, even with the Iowa caucus just five weeks away.

“Independents are leaning our way, but they’re not quite there yet,” pollster Glen Bolger told the Republican Governors Association. He said he foresees a very close race.

Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal said Obama cannot run on his record, mainly because of the nation’s high unemployment rate. So Obama will focus on “tearing down the Republican nominee,” Jindal said, predicting a much more negative campaign than in 2008.

They have plenty of reasons to be cautious, GOP pollster Frank Luntz said. If next year’s campaign is couched as a battle over the middle class, he said, “Democrats will win.”

Republicans should say they’re fighting for “hard-working taxpayers,” said Luntz, who is known for conducting focus groups and advising Republicans on precise words to use and to avoid.

He also warned that most Americans support Obama’s bid to raise taxes on the wealthiest households, and he urged Republicans not to get engaged in a debate over “taxing” the rich. Instead, he said, they should talk about the evils of “the government taking money from hard-working Americans,” no matter how much they earn.

Luntz added, “I’m so scared by this anti-Wall Street effort.” He was referring to the Occupy movement, which many GOP candidates have criticised. Republicans should defend “free enterprise,” he said, a term that’s preferable to “capitalism.”