Gingrich Climbs to Top in South Carolina Poll

In a new poll of South Carolina Republican primary goers, Newt Gingrich has charged to the top, building a wide margin over Mitt Romney, 38.4 percent to 21.5 percent.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry comes in a distant third with 9 percent of the vote.

The results of the Winthrop Poll -- taken between Nov. 27 and Dec. 4 of 1,073 registered voters in The Palmetto State -- show that among likely Republican presidential primary voters, Gingrich has made a dramatic jump since September. At that time, the same polling company found Gingrich earned just 5.3 percent of the vote behind Romney, who came in second with 27.3 percent and Perry, who led the pack with 30.5 percent.

According to the poll, Herman Cain, who suspended his campaign on Saturday, still maintained support among Republicans though it had dropped from 7.7 percent in September to 6.6 percent in December.

The survey also weighed in on national events, and interviewed Democrats and independents as well. It listed 81 percent saying the economy is fairly or very bad, and 47.4 percent saying national economic conditions are getting worse.

Among the whole survey group, 63.4 percent saying it is not possible to address national budget concerns without any tax increases on any groups. However, there were wide differences in the results, with 80.4 percent of Democrats agreeing with that statement while only 47.4 percent of Republicans did. In the all-important independent group, 60.5 percent agreed that the economy can't be fixed without tax hikes on somebody.

Unemployment ranked the top concern with 38.2 percent with the economic and fiscal crisis and education following as top concerns, with 21.1 and 10 percent, respectively. A full 81.4 percent said they disapproved of the way Congress is doing its job.

Despite not knowing who the Republican nominee will be, 58.8 percent said they thought it was somewhat or very likely President Obama would keep his job even though only 44.8 percent approved of his job performance while 47.8 percent disapproved.

Click here for the full results from the poll.