The Palmetto State primary is just two days away, and we’ve been watching South Carolina search traffic this week for the GOP candidates. We discovered Newt Gingrich moved from a solid fourth place on Monday to first place in South Carolina search volume today. The latest South Carolina polls show Gingrich catching up with Mitt Romney. In a few cases, Newt actually leads Romney.

Gingrich has seen a 690% increase in search traffic since Gingrich’s last debate performance on Monday. That exceeds the search growth of any other candidate campaigning in South Carolina.

Posted by: Samantha Smith, Google Politics & Elections Team