Good news for Mitt: only 70% of GOP don't prefer him (photo: Gage Skidmore/flickr}

Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney are tied nationally at 30 percent each according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll. Ron Paul is at 15 percent and all other candidate are currently in the single digits.

Overall the poll is pretty good news for the Romney campaign despite being neck and neck with Gingrich. This is one of the first national polls to show Romney breaking what had been a ceiling of roughly 25 percent. The poll shows Romney is the most electable of the GOP candidates.  Most importantly the poll found that the Republican base believes Romney is the most electable. From the Washington Post:

Romney has a 10-point advantage on the key question of who Republicans think is most likely to beat Obama. Romney also leads Gingrich when it comes to dealing with issue No. 1, the economy. Gingrich counters with a big advantage on experience: By about 2 to 1, more see him as having the best résumé for the White House and as being the most qualified to be commander in chief.

Among registered voters in a theoretical general election match up, Romney is tied with Obama, 47-47. Against Gingrich though, Obama holds a substantial lead, 51-43. Even Ron Paul performs better than Gingrich in a general election match up; Paul only loses to Obama, 49-44.

This is roughly about where the Romney campaign should want to be at this point.  His poll numbers are now finally starting to rise right before the voting actually happens, and his one main rival, Gingrich, carries the risk of not being able to defeat Obama. The base might not be in love with Romney, but they are passionate about getting Obama out of the White House.