A CBS News poll of the Republican primary released on Friday showed that support for businessman-turned-politician Herman Cain is stalling and that former Gov. Mitt Romney and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich are running neck in neck, at 15 percent, each.
That wasn’t a typo Gingrich really is up there vying for the Republican nomination—if this poll is accurate, anyhow.
Things are also looking up for Gingrich on Facebook. Two weeks ago when the Daily Dot last looked at the Facebook primary, Gingrich was holding steady with 156,922 fans. As of Friday afternoon, Gingrich had gained 8,523 new ‘likes,” and is leaving names like Huntsman and Santorum behind.
Do people really like him that much or are they simply recognizing his name—a powerful tool in politics. Unlike Gingrich’s competitors, he been a player in national politics for more than two decades and is well known by the Republican base.
Gingrich may be doing well, but his Facebook growth is nothing compared to Romney and Cain. In just over two weeks, Romney has gained more than 23,000 new supporters online, putting the number of Facebook fans at 1,173,543. The ‘Cain Train’ is still rolling fast, gaining more than 66,000 fans during the same time period, despite allegations of sexual harassment. His number hovers at 370,047.
Here’s where the rest of the field falls on Facebook: Ron Paul had 580,466 supporters, a gain of more than 15,000. Michele Bachmann actually lost the support of more than 700 people and now is at 459,148. Rick Perry, who came under fire after his “oops” moment a the Republican debate, had a very small gain of 1,914 fans and is now at 170,711. Rick Santorum gained less than a 1,000 new supporters and is at 31,879. At the bottom of the pack is Jon Huntsman who gained 1,379 new fans to now stand at 22,578.
Photo by Gage Skidmore
