Newt Gingrich Chosen As Preferred Dinner Guest, Not Candidate, In Poll

Newt Gingrich is trailing Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum in support from Republicans and right-leaning independents almost across the board, according to a Bloomberg National poll released Tuesday.

But he has them beat on one thing: respondents named Gingrich as the candidate who would be the most interesting potential dinner guest.

The poll found 26 percent of Republicans said they'd be most interested in dining with Gingrich, followed by 23 percent who said they would choose Romney. (The poll did not specificy whether Romney's meal would include grits.) Twenty percent of those polled said they would eat with Ron Paul and 19 percent chose Santorum.

Gingrich has previously said that if he could have dinner with any six people, dead or alive, they would be Thomas Edison, Charles Darwin, the Wright Brothers, Winston Churchill and John Ford.

In other match-ups, Gingrich did not fare as well. The nationwide poll of Republicans and Independents, taken after Super Tuesday, found 13 percent supported Gingrich, just above Ron Paul's 11 percent. Santorum received 27 percent support and Romney 37 percent.