The Insider Advantage poll of voters in Georgia released Tuesday shows Republican presidential candidates Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum are in a three-way statistical tie there, with two weeks remaining until the Georgia Republican primary election.
Mr. Gingrich finished with 25.9 percent of the votes, Mr. Romney finished with 23.9 percent and Mr. Santorum finished with 22.8 percent.
Texas congressman Ron Paul finished the poll in a distant fourth place with just 11.7 percent of the votes.
Mr. Gingrich is hoping for a victory in the Georgia Republican primary election, after winning the South Carolina election in January and finding that his campaign message resonates best with southern conservative voters.
Georgia is one of 10 states holding their primary election on Super Tuesday in March. Super Tuesday will prove to be a crucial day for Mr. Gingrich, as he has not won an election or had a top tier finish since winning the South Carolian election in January.
The former U.S. House speaker represented Georgia’s sixth congressional district for 20 years, up until his resignation as speaker in 1999.
Mr. Gingrich made several campaign appearances in Georgia this weekend, calling the state crucial to his hopes for capturing the Republican nomination.
“I would hope to win here and I think given the years I spent helping both represent the state in Congress, but also helping to grow the Georgia Republican Party I think I have some reasonably good likelihood of winning here,” said Mr. Gingrich Saturday, on Georgia based Channel 2 Action News.
CNN canceled the nationally televised debate that was scheduled to take place in Georgia on March 1st, after Mr. Romney and Mr. Paul backed out of participating in it.
Mr. Gingrich criticized their decision not to debate him, Mr. Romney likely did not want to see a repeat of the standing ovation Mr. Gingrich received while attacking him during debates in nearby South Carolina in January.
The Insider Advantage poll surveyed 721 voters in Georgia on February 20th.
