Newt Gingrich Takes Charge in South Carolina

Two polls released on Tuesday found that former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich has surged to take command of the South Carolina Republican primary.

Gingrich tops an InsiderAdvantage/Majority Opinion Research poll, taken by the Augusta Chronicle, with 38 percent followed by former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts in second with 15 percent. Businessman Herman Cain places third with 13 percent. U.S. Rep. Ron Paul places fourth with 7 percent followed by Gov Rick Perry of Texas with 4 percent, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota at 3 percent and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum at 2 percent. The poll of 519 likely Republican primary voters was taken on Nov. 28 and had a margin of error of +/- 4 percent.

Gingrich also leads a poll of South Carolina from the American Research Group released on Tuesday. Gingrich takes 38 percent followed by Romney with 25 percent. Perry takes third in this poll with 9 percent while Cain stands in fourth with 7 percent. Paul takes fifth with 5 percent followed by Bachmann and former Gov. Jon Huntsman of Utah with 2 percent each. Santorum takes 1 percent followed by two former governors -- Gary Johnson of New Mexico and Buddy Roemer of Louisiana -- with less than 1 percent. The poll of 600 likely Republican primary voters was taken from Nov. 25-28 and had a margin of error of +/- 4 percent.