Gingrich tops 40 percent in Rasmussen Florida poll

A slew of new polling data shows Newt Gingrich soaring in Florida following his convincing victory in South Carolina.

An Insider Advantage poll released Sunday night showed Gingrich leading Mitt Romney 34 percent to 26 percent in the Sunshine State, and now the latest survey from conservative polling outlet Rasmussen shows Gingrich leading Romney 41 percent to 32 percent.

Romney led Gingrich by 22 percent in the same poll only two weeks ago, but a damaging debate performance in which Romney seemed to waffle on whether he would release his tax returns, coupled with a fiery performance by Gingrich in which he went after the media for asking questions about his past infidelities, led to a double-digit victory for the former House Speaker in South Carolina.

Rounding out the field in Florida are Rick Santorum at 11 percent and Ron Paul at 8 percent.

The Paul campaign is not expected to focus on Florida, where the winner will take all of the delegates; instead he is electing to focus on caucus-style states where delegates are awarded proportionately.

While the new polls seem to be good news for Gingrich, Florida allows for early voting, and a significant number of votes were cast before his rise in the polls.

According to Rasmussen, Romney leads by 11 percent among those who have already cast their ballots, which is estimated at nearly 230,000, according to Republican Party officials.

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