our political director chuck todd is here, as is the pollster peter hart, "meet the press" moderator david gregory, and from washington, nbc's andrea mitchell. and chuck, let's start with the hard numbers today and what they tell us. >> this poll that we have tonight is a tale of two republicans with their own set of electability problems. let's start with mitt romney, his electability problem is getting the republican nomination. as you can see, newt gingrich has surged to 40%. that is the highest number any republican has had in the calendar year of 2011, since we've started polling this primary. when the race shrinks down to three candidates, gingrich, romney, paul, gingrich's lead expands. 53% to romney's 31%. what is romney's electability problem? it is simply one word, ideology. 70% of republicans call themselves conservative. 57% believe newt gingrich is one of them. only 29% believe mitt romney is a conservative. that's the reason. newt gingrich has an electability problem, but that is in a general election. mitt romney and barack obama would be a neck and neck race. 47 to 45

you don't know what to expect and it's all been so unpredictable until now. >> peter hart, it's safe to say, we haven't seen this country in this shape before, and we certainly haven't seen the electorate look like this before? >> anger is all around. the thing that most disappoints people in 2011, and that is the declining middle class, the rich are getting richer. >> peter, david, andrea mitchell in washington, thank you all. and one more note from our poll, 75% call this year's congress either below average or one of the worst ever. that's a low in u.s. history. and the battling over taxes on capitol hill grinds on tonight with a stand-off over executing the payroll tax cut. kelly o'donnell is with us from washington. kelly, good evening. >> reporter: i have more of what makes the public so angry. another down to the wire battle. 160 million americans could see their taxes go up in a couple weeks, and the government runs out of money to operate this saturday. both parties thought they had achieved a big bipartisan deem to keep the government running. the president put the brakes o

conducted by pollster peter hart and may explain why republicans are not embracing mitt romney more.o describe romney as if he was part of their family, one said, quote, the dad that was never home. newt on the other hand was described as a, quote, favorite uncle. joining me domenico, thanks for your time. it's interesting. we'll learn more about the poll coming up. let's break down some of the things they have to say. we have newt first. let's bring it up on the boards on the screen. positives, moral character, strong leader, rolls up his sleeves, he's a role model. those are some of the positives. let's look at the negatives for mitt romney. not strong enough. republican in name only. wishy washy. romney care. what does that tell us at this point? >> it tells us they are really not warmed to mitt romney. for people wondering why mitt romney hasn't caught on with the conservative base, this is one example of that. we have to be cautious here in one respect because even though as our pollster peter hart pointed out there isn't any warmth or connection some of these conservative voter

to help, peter hart who led the discussion and our chief political an lift gloria borger on hand to watch it. i want to look at the fascinating romney/gingrich views of your voters last night. but first, herman cain has a big decision to make. by this time tomorrow night, we're likely to know it. what, when you brought up herman cain, peter, to you first, to this group of republican voters, do they think he can sustain this or do they think he's done? >> done. >> done? >> pure and simple. when they talked about him, they just had huge problems. both substantively that he didn't know enough to be president, and the other side was that he really on a moral basis, particularly with harassment charges, were things that bothers people. >> none of what we had seen, he's new, different? >> none of it. not even the like ability. the words that stuck to me, sitting behind the mir, was that he has no chance and he's unelectable about and he's a goner as far as they're concerned. they're over herman cain. >> as we wait mr. cain's decision, we know gingrich has surges, romney is struggling but has a

peter hart said who would he be in your family.events. >> distant,right? >> that's right. for whatever reason, mitt romney has failed to forge the kind of personal connection with voters even though he's pretty familiar to them. that they had with herman cain for a while and that they have with potentially with newt gingrich right now. >> yeah. frank, beyond the horse race numbers, you guys at gallup measure the positive intensity scores. how much enthusiasm o do voters have for these candidates? where do they stack up right now in. >> that's very, very important measure, we think, at gallup. positive intensity alex is the percent of republicans that know the candidates who feel really strongly about them, who have the intensity, excitement and drum roll, mitt romney has not done well on this for all year. we had rick perry up there high. we had michele bachmann who has scored very high. herman cain set the record at a score of 34. mitt romney never about 20. now he's at nine a couple of points above rick santorum. i think this und

. >> we have seen already that republicans questioned by peter hart are not happy with the choices.hat they have to say about the front-runner and the former front-runner as well as the rest of the field. thanks so much. >> can't wait. >> that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." tomorrow national security adviser steven hadley. remember follow the show online and on twitter @mitchell reports. >> great to see you. we are talking about the poll and get a preview of a new poll that shows a majority of registered republicans think the gop field is "average or weak." newt gingrich endorses a controversial marriage plan that is supposed to top the sanctity of marriage. he did not sign it. he just endorsed it. jerry sandusky was supposed to go face-to-face with accusers and stunned the court with the decision to waive the right to a preliminary hearing. this may all lead to a plea deal. how many times investigators say a driver involved in this deadly car crash sent and received text messages in just 11 minutes. they are calling for a ban on all cell phones while you dri

i was at a focus group last week conducted by the democratic polster peter hart with republican primaryone of the voters said, look, here's what we know about newt gingrich. he's careless and that he's combustible. and these are -- so they're worried, the voters are worried because he can mouth off and say things and alienate a group of voters in a nano second and that's not what republicans need. >> newt gingrich came into congress in the 1970s. he founded the conservative opportunities society designed to transform the republican minority in the house from a junior partner in governing to a true opposition party. and the way they did was with bombastic rhetoric and late night speeches attacking democrats in very visit olic terms. he is never entirely unlearned those less sonsz even as he rows to the top of the hill. the book on the first year of the republican takeover, the title is "tell newt to shut up." the quote wasn'ts from a democrat. this is from another senior republican who has a tremendous command of a lot of issues but also has this tremendous draw toward the especially vol

. >> and peter hart in his survey, they said he was wishy-washy and they didn't feel a deck to him. >actly right. he has to give them a sense that he believes more just in america and business and gingrich has as a father of the modern conservative movement a full track record. and romney's trek record in massachusetts as governor is one of working with the democratically controlled state legislature, involved a lot of compromise and something he doesn't want to talk about. >> thank you, robert draper. >> my pleasure. p. >>> and who had the worst week in washington? that's next. if they want "big" savings on car insurance, >>> and who had the worst week in washington? that's next. >>> and who had the worst week in washington? that's next. >>> and who had the in washington? that's next. ...or big hair... i think we have our answer. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. but my nose is still runny. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesn't treat that. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieve

peter hart who works with nbc often, found people saying that he is grandfatherly. the money will come. all the debt will be paid off. all the campaign problems, he'll hire staffers. that will all come. if he can convince primary voters this close to when voting starts in early states that he is electable in a general election, that is the final straw against mitt romney. it becomes a real threat to mitt romney's hopes. >> the tea party is set to be the major factor here. i spoke with a woman in iowa who is a tea party member, loves sarah palin, she has gone down the list. i think she even liked donald trump at one point but here she is, saying she is willing to support newt gingrich. he is not a washington outsider. he is not social conservative on issues that this woman and others say means something to them. but she told me, he is a fighter. she in her mine can visualize newt gingrich going at it with president obama. is that what this is about at this point? >> absolutely. the problem for mitt romney is that he hasn't shown that fight. he hasn't shown that inten

. >> joe, when we look at this new pollster, peter hart conducted a focus group of 12 gop primary votersicy center, the positives they say about all this, that romney has the moral character, that he's a strong leader, hooets he's going to roll up his sleeve and he's a role model. minus category, not strong enough, republican in name only, wishy-was wishy-washy, they associate him with romneycare. is newt gingrich going to play that up in trying to take down romney completely? >> i think mitt romney can overcome some of those challenges. he has a very, very strong moral character. he's been a great leader, not only in massachusetts but in his work with the olympics and his work in the private sector and certainly in his -- with his -- in his family. he's a very, very good guy. and i think that his strength of character and likewise his plans to put americans back to work will make him a continued great candidate on the campaign trail. >> jen, the more that newt rises to the top, does that make it just that much easier for president obama to get reelected? >> i think president obama is go

peter hart was amazed, now this was done in fairfax, virginia.ittle more respect for washington insiders there so i'll put that asterisk on that. but being somebody who knows how the system works, but having been a history of being a change agent is not so bad for newt is it? >> no, not at all. you know, you have to look at what the electorate is looking for right now. this is a republican electorate that's looking for an outsider who is willing to take on obama aggressively. >> and neither can do both. >> when you put these two guys next to each other, neither one -- both of them are flawed in the eyes of the conservatives. they don't really fit that mold. and so i think it's actually going to come down to -- it could come down to the attack dog. who can go after obama the hardest? and -- because that is the other thing the base wants. they want somebody -- they liked herman cain. herman cain was willing to say whatever it was that needed to go after obama. and on the rhetoric front, you know, newt has a history of -- >> and it is received well.

my name is peter hart, and thank you for coming tonight in tonight's focus group. this is one of the focus groups that we are doing in the 2012 election it's been done for the annenberg public policy center at the university of pennsylvania, and as i told you, c-span is covering, and in addition to c-span, we have a number of reporters who are behind a one-way mirror who are also covering it. so it is our chance to sort talk about the republican primary. everybody here raise your hand all republican primary voters, correct? so what i'd like to do is go around the room very quickly just introduce yourself if you can give me your first name, tell me what you'd do that would be a great start. welcome. >> preparation and also bookkeeper. >> okay. a great. >> [inaudible] marketing. >> my name is christine and i may contractor. >> i'm a flight attendant. >> my name is jonathan and i am a vice president for special events. >> my name is chris and byman i.t. consultant in sales. >> and a part-time retail merchandiser. >> tony and i am a retired bookkeeper. >> tony, a bookk

my name is peter hart, and thank you for coming tonight, to tonight's focus group.this is one of the focus groups we are doing in the 2012 election that's being done for the annenberg public policy center at the university of pennsylvania, and as i've told you, c-span is covering it and in addition to c-span, we have a number of reporters who are behind a one-way mirror who are also covering it. so it's our chance to sort of talk about a republican primary. everybody raise your hand or all republican primary voters, good. what i would like to do is go around the room very quickly, just to introduce yourself. give me your first name, tell me what you do that would be a great start. welcome, ben. >> linus ben, tax preparation and bookkeeper. >> great. >> i name is deborah. i work for built removers. i do their marketing. >> my name is christina and i may contractor. >> my name is laurel and i may flight attendant. >> my name is jonathan. >> my name is chris seibu i.t. consultant sales. >> on sue and by a part-time retail merchandiser. >> toni and i am a retired bookke

so when peter hart was sitting around with them, he asked some interesting questions. of the questions he asked them, which member ofney be? take a look at what they had to say. >> cousin. >> second removed cousin. >> okay. >> my uncle. >> uncle. >> okay. >> see him as close? can you relate to him or distant? >> distant. >> why distant? >> because he's richer than the rest of us so he wouldn't come to our events. >> he's not me. >> he's a mover. a shaker. he's making news. he doesn't have time for family. especially extended family. >> so, not exactly warm and fuzzy, wolf. about mitt romney. he clearly has these voter's respect, but he doesn't have their affection and people have to like you to really be behind you when you're running for president. >> what do they say about newt gingrich? >> they actually like newt gingrich more. when asked the same question about which member of the family would newt be? they said, father, grandfather, uncle. but they had problems relating to his personality and his past. so, look at what they said cht. >> i think when you enter a ra

on c-span2, peter hart conducts a focus group with voters in virginia. and at 7:00 p.m. eastern on c- span3, the heads of fannie mae and freddie mac testify before a subcommittee. all these tonight on the c-span tv networks. now defense department spokesman told a briefing with reporters at the pentagon. he spoke about relations with pakistan and defense department cuts. this is 35 minutes. >> good afternoon. we do not have any announcements, so we will go to questions. >> pakistan. first, have you -- as the u.s. then notified by pakistan that they will not be participating in the investigation, and can you top overall about what impact this may or may not have on the supplies may be getting into winter. there are a lot of supplies sitting at the waterfront waiting to go? is there jeopardy involved? >> pakistan has been involved invited -- vied it to participate in the investigation. they have declined to participate in the investigation. the relationship with pakistan remains important to the united states. we think cooperation with paquette -- which pakistan is essenti