Gingrich wins Tea Party Patriots straw poll

While a new spate of polls show troubling signs for Newt Gingrich — a PPP poll released Monday showed him running third in Iowa — the former House Speaker earned a big victory among social conservatives Sunday night, edging out Michele Bachmann to take the Tea Party Patriots straw poll.

Gingrich garnered 31 percent of the vote from nearly 23,000 Tea Party voters nationwide, besting Bachmann by three percentage points. Mitt Romney earned 20 percent of the voters, with Rick Santorum, at 16 percent, the only other candidate to earn double digits. Ron Paul, Rick Perry and Jon Huntsman all earned 3 percent or less of the vote.

“An overwhelming number of activists from around the nation showed they are serious about electing a candidate who advances Tea Party principles,” said Jenny Beth Martin, national coordinator for Tea Party Patriots, in a statement. “Just as in 2010, candidates like Newt Gingrich will need to show they will be fiscally responsible and protect the Constitution in the White House.”

The win is an important one for Gingrich, who is struggling to hold together a coalition of conservative voters disenchanted with Mitt Romney. His participation in the group's tele-forum was his lone campaign event of the weekend, with the exception of a conference call with reporters.

Gingrich also benefits from a following that says it is enthusiastic about voting for him. Of the voters in the Tea Party group's poll, 58 percent said they were enthusiastic or extremely enthusiastic to vote for him, more than any other candidate. Bachmann trailed with 55 percent in those two categories, and actually edged Gingrich by a single percentage point in collecting "extremely enthusiastic" voters.

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