Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich won the latest Public Policy Polling poll of Mississippi Republican primary voters. The Mississippi PPP poll, released on Tuesday, found Gingrich with 28 percent of the votes. Pizza magnate Herman Cain garnered 25 percent of the votes to finish in second place. Texas Governor Rick Perry finished in third place with 14 percent of the votes. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney took fourth place with 12 percent of the votes. The rest of the GOP candidates earned 5 percent of the votes or less.
While Gingrich beat Cain in the latest Mississippi poll, the Georgia businessman leads the latest Ohio PPP poll by 14 percentage points. Despite the latest accusations against Cain, including the public accusations leveled by Sharon Bialek, the pizza magnate is still polling well.
“Herman Cain got through the first week since the allegations came to light in pretty
good shape,” President of Public Policy Polling Dean Debnam said in a PPP press release. “He’s benefiting from the intense distrust Republicans have for the media, but we’ll see if he can survive the newest round of accusations,” Debnam added.
Depending on the ongoing impact of the sexual harassment allegations against Cain, Gingrich may benefit from the Georgia Republican’s troubles. In an ABC News/Yahoo interview on Tuesday, Gingrich said that Cain should “answer the charges.” Gingrich added that Cain “has to explain what happened. He has to do so in a way that’s convincing, and I think that that’s unavoidable.”
PPP surveyed 400 Mississippi Republican primary voters between November 4 and 6. The Mississippi PPP poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.
