In the final days leading up to the South Carolina primary, Newt Gingrich attacked Mitt Romney's tax rate revelation. NBC's Chuck Todd reports. 
 
 With two days until South Carolina’s Republican presidential primary, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney holds a 10-point lead over former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, according to a new NBC News/Marist poll of the GOP contest in that state. 
 
 But a day after Monday night’s Republican debate – where Gingrich’s performance was considered strong and Romney’s uneven – the poll also shows the former speaker gaining considerable ground on the GOP frontrunner. 
 
 Overall in the two-day survey – conducted Monday and Tuesday – Romney gets the support of 34 percent of likely Republican primary voters in South Carolina, including those who are undecided but leaning toward a candidate. 
 
 He’s followed by Gingrich at 24 percent, Texas Rep. Ron Paul at 16 percent, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum at 14 percent, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry at 4 percent. 
 
 Iowa Republicans to call caucus result split decision 
 
 Yet the numbers are strikingly different before and after the debate on Monday, when Romney stumbled over whether he would release his tax records (he later said he would do so in April). Also in that outing, Gingrich drew cheers – and even a standing ovation from some – in response to a question about whether his rhetoric about food stamps and janitorial work for poor children was racially insensitive. 
 
 “The fact is that more people have been put on food stamps by Barack Obama than any president in American history,” Gingrich answered. “I know among the politically correct, you're not supposed to use facts that are uncomfortable.” 
 
 Joe Raedle / Getty Images Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney visits Hudson's Smokehouse in Lexington, S.C., on Wednesday. 
 
 He later added, “I believe every American of every background has been endowed by their creator with the right to pursue happiness. And if that makes liberals unhappy, I'm going to continue to find ways to help poor people learn how to get a job, learn how to get a better job and learn some day to own the job.” 
 
 Another GOP debate takes place on Thursday evening. 
 
 What a difference one debate makes 
 
 On Monday before the debate, Romney led Gingrich in the poll by 15 points, 37 percent to 22 percent. But on Tuesday, that advantage narrowed to just five points, 31 percent to 26 percent. 
 
 “The numbers on Tuesday were very different than the numbers on Monday,” says Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, which conducted the survey. 
 
 And they were especially different among the most conservative segments of the GOP electorate in South Carolina. 
 
 On Monday, Gingrich held a five-point lead over Romney among those describing themselves as “very conservative,” 32 percent to 27 percent, with Santorum getting 24 percent. 
 
 While on the trail in South Carolina, Mitt Romney said he will release further details about his taxes in April if he secures the Republican presidential nomination. NBC's Peter Alexander reports. 
 
 But the next day, Gingrich’s percentage with this group jumped up to 35 percent, Santorum’s declined to 20 percent and Romney’s sunk to 19 percent. 
 
 Among Tea Party supporters on Monday, Romney edged Gingrich, 35 percent to 27 percent. But on Tuesday, the numbers flipped – with Gingrich at 34 percent and Romney at 27 percent. 
 
 And a similar change occurred among likely South Carolina primary voters who are evangelical Christians. On Monday, Romney led Gingrich here, 36 percent to 22 percent, with Santorum at 18 percent. On Tuesday, it was Gingrich at 27 percent, Romney at 22 percent, and Santorum at 19 percent. 
 
 While Gingrich gained ground on Romney the day after the GOP debate, his poll position in South Carolina has declined markedly since December, when he led the former Massachusetts governor in the NBC News/Marist poll, 42 percent to 23 percent. 
 
 The Bain dog doesn’t bite – at least for now 
 
 Romney also can take comfort with this finding from the poll: His past work at Bain Capital doesn’t seem to bother South Carolina Republicans. 
 
 Sixty-one percent of GOP primary voters – as well as 42 percent of all registered voters in the Palmetto State – agree with the statement that investment firms like Bain help the U.S. economy. And they agree that while some companies fail or are restructured, others succeed and that’s how the free market works. 
 
 By comparison, just a quarter of likely GOP primary voters – plus a third of all registered voters – agree with the statement that investment firms like Bain hurt the U.S. economy when they take over a company; when they lay off workers and reduce their pay; and when they make money for the firm whether or not the company succeeds. 
 
 What’s more, 48 percent of likely Republican primary voters believe the recent political attacks on Romney’s past experience at Bain are unfair, while just 22 percent think they’re fair. 
 
 And a plurality of likely GOP primary voters – 23 percent – find Romney to be the Republican presidential candidate who best understands their problems. That’s compared with 22 percent for Gingrich, 18 percent for Paul and 16 percent for Santorum. 
 
 Other notable numbers in the poll: 
 
 • 39 percent of likely Republican voters in the state believe that the ability to beat President Barack Obama in November is the most important candidate quality, and that’s nearly double the percentage who said that in December’s NBC News/Marist poll of South Carolina; 
 
 • a majority (56 percent) think Romney has the best chance of beating Obama; 
 
 • a plurality (30 percent) say that Romney has been the candidate who has spent the most time talking about the issues, while another plurality (41 percent) say Gingrich has been the one who has spent the most time attacking his opponents; 
 
 • another plurality (36 percent) say they like Paul the least; 
 
 • and Obama’s job-approval rating in South Carolina – among registered voters – is 44 percent. 
 
 The NBC News/Marist poll was conducted from Jan. 16-17 among 684 likely GOP primary voters (with a margin of error of plus-minus 3.8 percentage points). The pre-debate sample surveyed 349 likely voters (+/- 5.5), and the post-debate sample had 335 (+/- 5.5.). 
 
 Among the 2,146 registered voters, the margin of error is plus-minus 2.1 percentage points. ||||| CHARLESTON, S.C. — Mitt Romney remains the clear front-runner in South Carolina, but the intensity of Newt Gingrich’s support places him within striking distance going into Saturday’s Republican primary. 
 
 A POLITICO poll of likely voters shows the former Massachusetts governor atop the GOP field with 37 percent and the former House speaker at 30 percent. 
 
 Text Size - 
 
 + 
 
 reset Newt surges in POLITICO Poll See Also Pollster analysis: S.C. likely to defy conventional wisdom 
 
 Texas Congressman Ron Paul trails with 11 percent, followed by former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum at 10 percent and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who barely registers at 4 percent. Just 8 percent remain undecided. 
 
 “You really have a two-man race, with Paul and Santorum battling back and forth for No. 3 and 4 and Perry out of the mix,” said Ed Goeas, a Republican pollster whose firm, the Tarrance Group, conducted the survey on Tuesday and Wednesday. 
 
 Gingrich has momentum: When voters are asked to volunteer the name of the candidate they plan to vote for without being prompted by a list of names to choose from, Romney’s lead over Gingrich slips to 31 percent to 29 percent. Among those who say they will “definitely” support their candidate of choice, the two are essentially tied, with Romney at 23 percent and Gingrich at 22 percent. 
 
 Get the full results here and crosstabs here. 
 
 One reason the former House speaker is pressing Romney: his consistently strong debate performances. Among those who claim they’ve watched all or almost all of the 16 debates so far, 48 percent support Gingrich compared with 22 percent who back Romney. Gingrich ranks fourth, at 9 percent, among Republicans who did not catch any of the debates. 
 
 A debate here Thursday night offers him another chance to shine, just 36 hours before polls open. 
 
 Romney, however, has a host of underlying strengths that continue to make him the clear favorite to win the first-in the-South primary, where he finished fourth in 2008. 
 
 He holds significant leads with the blocs of voters most likely to show up. The more educated and older the voter, the more likely they are to back the former Massachusetts governor. Among voters aged 64 or older, Romney leads Gingrich 35 percent to 29 percent. With college-educated voters, it’s 35 percent to 28 percent. For those with only some college, Gingrich has a 6-percent-point edge, 32 to 26. 
 
 Voters are most concerned about the issue on which Romney has staked his campaign — the economy. In a state where the unemployment rate is 9.9 percent — significantly higher than in Iowa and New Hampshire — 64 percent say they’re most interested in economic issues like taxes, jobs and the deficit. Just 10 percent name moral issues (abortion, gay marriage, family values) as their top concern. Among those who point to economic issues as their top concern, 40 percent back Romney. But among those who name moral issues, Santorum leads Romney 25 percent to 22 percent.
– Newt Gingrich is so close to Mitt Romney in South Carolina that an upset win is within the realm of possibility, according to a couple of new polls. Politico's numbers have Romney still leading the field with 37%, but Gingrich is close behind at 30%. Both are well ahead of their rivals; Ron Paul and Rick Santorum are battling for fourth with just 11% and 10% respectively, and Rick Perry barely registers with 4%. "You really have a two-man race," says the pollster who ran the survey. An NBC poll reveals a similar trend; it has Romney up by 10 points, with 34% to Gingrich's 24%, but that represents a whopping 5-point overnight jump for Gingrich following Monday's debate. Conservatives and evangelical Christians especially flocked to the former speaker after that performance. Both polls also reveal that Gingrich's attacks on Romney's Bain Capital tenure haven't hit home; 70% told Politico that Bain wouldn't influence their vote, and 48% told NBC the attacks were unfair.