I am away from a computer for most of the day and updates are going to be limited this weekend. Add to this the fact that my typing ability is currently limited to my Droid. It is a great phone for the Internet, but typing my normal posts can take three to four times longer…

How about a Florida-free post of polls for a change. We will start with a new poll from EPIC-MRA in the state of Michigan where Barack Obama currently leads the two Republicans.

PRESIDENT – MICHIGAN (EPIC-MRA)
Barack Obama (D-inc) 48%
Mitt Romney (R) 40%

Barack Obama (D-inc) 51%
Newt Gingrich (R) 38%

PRESIDENT – MICHIGAN – GOP PRIMARY (EPIC-MRA)
Mitt Romney 31%
Newt Gingrich 26%
Ron Paul 14%
Rick Santorum 10%

US SENATE – MICHIGAN – GOP PRIMARY (EPIC-MRA)
Pete Hoekstra 40%
Clark Durant 3%
Others <2%

This poll was done January 21-25 among 600 likely voters. In the state of Arizona, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are tied for the lead in the Republican race in a new poll from American Research Group.

PRESIDENT – ARIZONA – GOP PRIMARY (ARG)
Mitt Romney 32%
Newt Gingrich 32%
Ron Paul 12%
Rick Santorum 10%

This poll was done January 25-26 among 600 likely voters. I wonder if ARG will be releasing a final poll in Florida as they have done for IA, NH and SC.

We can now add Sunshine State News to the growing list of pollsters to show Mitt Romney with a healthy lead over Newt Gingrich in the state of Florida. the poll was done by Voter Survey Service.

PRESIDENT – FLORIDA – GOP PRIMARY (VSS)
Mitt Romney 40%
Newt Gingrich 31%
Rick Santorum 12%
Ron Paul 9%

This poll was done January 24-26 among 846 likely primary voters. I must say that it is still a little concerning that almost a third of Republican voters in Florida still want to make Newt Gingrich the face of the Republican Party for the next nine months….

Unlike last week where the clips that were played over and over again on the news clearly favored Newt Gingrich, this morning it was just the opposite as the consensus seems to be Mitt Romney was the clear winner and the clips being played show that. Let’s face it, that is how most people end up “watching” the debate….

Quinnipiac University adds to the momentum Mitt Romney has in the state of Florida with their latest poll showing Romney now ahead of Gingrich by percentage points.

PRESIDENT – FLORIDA – GOP PRIMARY (Quinnipiac)
Mitt Romney 38%
Newt Gingrich 29%
Ron Paul 14%
Rick Santorum 12%

This poll was done January 24-26 among 580 likely primary voters. Public Policy Polling says the following on their Twitter feed about their Florida polling plans.

We were going to do night by night tracking Sat-Mon in FL like we did in SC, but seems like that might not really be necessary.

Let’s hope so. We did get a new national poll from NBC News and The Wall Street Journal that, while showing Newt Gingrich leading the national Republican race, also shows how disastrous a Gingrich candidacy would be in a General election.

PRESIDENT – NATIONAL – GOP PRIMARY (NBC/WSJ)
Newt Gingrich 37%
Mitt Romney 28%
Rick Santorum 18%
Ron Paul 12%

PRESIDENT – NATIONAL (NBC/WSJ)
Barack Obama (D-inc 49%
Mitt Romney (R) 43%

Barack Obama (D-inc) 55%
Newt Gingrich (R) 37%

Barack Obama (D-inc) 43%
Rick Santorum (R) 38%

Barack Obama (D-inc) 45%
Mitt Romney (R) 32%
Ron Paul (I) 18%

I can’t even imagine what an 18% blowout at the top of the ticket would do to Republicans further down the ballot, yet there are still Republican primary voters who want to make Newt Gingrich the face of the Party. Also, how odd is it that NBC and WSJ decided to only include Ron Paul in a three-way contest instead of an actual head-to-head match up with Obama. This poll was done January 22-24.

Back to Florida, we have some new numbers from Suffolk University for the US Senate race in Florida that shows Bill Nelson leading all the potential Republican challengers by double digits.

US SENATE – FLORIDA (Suffolk)
Bill Nelson (D-inc) 45%
Mike McCalister (R) 26%

Bill Nelson (D-inc) 47%
Adam Hasner (R) 23%

Bill Nelson (D-inc) 42%
Connie Mack (R) 32%

Bill Nelson (D-inc) 46%
George LeMeuix (R) 22%

This poll was done January 23-24 among 600 likely voters.

That should get you started on this lovely Friday morning….

Here we go again….

Barack Obama looks to be in pretty good shape to hold the state of Minnesota this year according to a new poll from Public Policy Polling.

PRESIDENT – MINNESOTA (PPP)
Barack Obama (D-inc) 51%
Mitt Romney (R) 41%

Barack Obama (D-inc) 54%
Newt Gingrich (R) 39%

Barack Obama (D-inc) 51%
Ron Paul (R) 38%

Barack Obama (D-inc) 52%
Rick Santorum (R) 40%

Minnesota is one of those states that if the Republicans win it, there is probably a pretty good chance they don’t need it. This poll was done January 21-22 among 1236 registered voters.

You can now add Monmouth University to the growing list of pollsters that now have Mitt Romney moving into a high-single-digit lead over Newt Gingrich in the state of Florida.

PRESIDENT – FLORIDA – GOP PRIMARY (Monmouth)
Mitt Romney 39%
Newt Gingrich 32%
Rick Santorum 11%
Ron Paul 8%

This poll was done January 24-25 among 540 likely primary voters.

At the start of this week, we were provided two polls from two different polling organizations that shows Newt Gingrich surging ahead of Mitt Romney in the state of Florida. Now those same two pollsters have reversed course and both have released polls that show a massive surge towards Mitt Romney. Scott Rasmussen’s latest poll now shows Romney ahead of Gingrich by 8%.

PRESIDENT – FLORIDA – GOP PRIMARY (Rasmussen)
Mitt Romney 39%
Newt Gingrich 31%
Rick Santorum 12%
Ron Paul 9%

This poll was done January 25th among 750 likely primary voters. Meanwhile, Insider Advantage is also seeing this surge towards Romney and away from Gingrich.

PRESIDENT – FLORIDA – GOP PRIMARY (IA)
Mitt Romney 40%
Newt Gingrich 32%
Ron Paul 9%
Rick Santorum 8%

This poll as done January 25th among 530 likely primary voters. The Republican Party may yet be saved….

If you need anymore evidence what a difference a Mitt Romney nomination would mean versus a Newt Gingrich nomination both for the Presidential race and the down ballot races, look no further than two polls out this morning that show the difference between how Romney fares against Barack Obama and how Gingrich fares against Obama. We will start with Quinnipiac University.

PRESIDENT – FLORIDA (Quinnipiac)
Mitt Romney (R) 45%
Barack Obama (D-inc) 45%

Barack Obama (D-inc) 50%
Newt Gingrich (R) 39%

Barack Obama (D-inc) 49%
Rick Santorum (R) 40%

Barack Obama (D-inc) 47%
Ron Paul (R) 39%

This poll was done January 19-23 among 1518 registered voters with a +/-2.5% margin of error. Meanwhile, Suffolk University shows an even stronger position for Mitt Romney.

PRESIDENT – FLORIDA (Suffolk)
Mitt Romney (R) 47%
Barack Obama (D-inc) 42%

Barack Obama (D-inc) 49%
Newt Gingrich (R) 40%

This poll was done January 22-24 among 600 likely voters. And yet there will still be Republicans who claim Newt Gingrich is more electable than Mitt Romney….

That should get things stirring this morning….

One poll I saw earlier but completely forgot to post was a new poll from Marquette University that shows, despite the Democrats best attempts, Republican Governor Scott Walker holds a decent lead over four different Democratic challengers in a recall election including teh man he beat two years ago.

GOVERNOR – WISCONSIN – RECALL (Marquette)
Scott Walker (R-inc) 50%
Tom Barrett (D) 44%

Scott Walker (R-inc) 49%
Kathleen Falk (D) 42%

Scott Walker (R-inc) 49%
David Obey (D) 43%

Scott Walker (R-inc) 50%
Tom Cullen (D) 40%

This poll also did include a match up showing how Mitt Romney fares against Barack Obama head-to-head.

PRESIDENT – WISCONSIN (Marquette)
Barack Obama (D-inc) 48%
Mitt Romney (R) 40%

This poll was done January 19-22 among 701 registered voters.No match up with Newt Gingrich was included.