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(AP Photo/Steven Senne)
SALT LAKE CITY -- A new poll says fewer Americans are calling themselves republicans, and a former House Speaker is blasting the survey itself.
According to the ABC News/Washington Post poll, only 20 percent of Americans identify themselves as Republicans.
"It's kind of a long-term pattern we've seen," says ABC News Polling Director Gary Langer.
On Utah's Morning News with Grant & Amanda on KSL Newsradio, Langer said that number has been going down since 2004. He believes it started in response to the war in Iraq.
A short time later on KSL Newsradio, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich took issue with the poll.
"I think this poll was deliberately rigged and produced a result that's fundamentally false," said Gingrich.
He took particular issue with the involvement of the Washington Post.
"It's a typical Washington Post effort to slant the world in favor of liberal Democrats," he claimed.
As proof, Gingrich cited other polls. One of the strongest, he believes, is a new Gallup poll. That poll shows a tight race in next year's mid-term elections. The slight 2 percent lead for Democrats is smaller than the 6 percent lead they had over the summer.
E-mail: athomas@ksl.com
