Gingrich tied with Romney in polls

WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- A CNN poll Monday indicated Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney are dead even nationally ahead of the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses.

The survey polled 1,015 Republican and independent voters from Dec. 16 to Dec. 18 and found 28 percent said former House Speaker Gingrich is their choice for the Republican presidential nomination. The same percentage chose former Massachusetts Gov. Romney, tying the two neck and neck.

Last month, Gingrich had a 24 to 20 percent lead over Romney, as well as considerable leads against the rest of the GOP candidates.

"Early-December polls from other organizations tended to show Gingrich's support in the mid-30s with Romney in second place, so the current figures indicate that Romney has recently gained ground at Gingrich's expense," CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said.

Since last month's CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul has also gained ground and is in third place at 14 percent, 5 points up from last month. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota is at 8 percent; Texas Gov. Rick Perry is now at 7 percent; former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania is at 4 percent; former Utah Gov. Jon Hunstman is at 2 percent and 9 percent remain undecided.

The poll had a 3 percent margin of error.