A New Rasmussen Poll out today shows that Mitt Romney may have benefited from Jon Huntsman’s endorsement more than we had expected. Huntsman was garnering 5% of the vote in South Carolina at the time he decided to “suspend” his campaign and Romney was polling at 31%. Today’s poll shows Mitt up to 35%, so either he did benefit, or he has massive momentum heading into the South Carolina primary. Either way, Mitt is in a great position with just 4 days left before South Carolina votes for their choice. Gingrich’s numbers have not improved in 1 weeks worth of polling.
Mitt Romney- 35%
Newt Gingrich- 21%
Santorum- 16%
Ron Paul- 16%
Rick Perry- 5%
Here are some details:
These latest findings come in a survey from Monday evening, after Huntsman’s announcement but before the remaining five candidates held a debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
The prior survey found Romney’s support essentially unchanged from the 27% he had earned a week earlier, while Santorum was down eight points, Gingrich up three and Paul up five.
Romney’s rivals continued to question his conservative credentials and to batter his business record in last night’s debate. But Romney has now moved into a tie with Gingrich among voters in the state who call themselves Very Conservative and continues to run well ahead among those who are Somewhat Conservative. Sixty-two percent (62%) of all GOP voters in the state view Romney’s business record as a reason to support him.
Among primary voters in the Palmetto State, 39% think Romney would do a better job managing the economy, followed by Gingrich with 23% support and Paul at 19%. The rest of the field is in single digits. Nationally, 48% of all voters think Romney would do a better job than Obama with the economy.
Just 33% of South Carolina primary voters say they could change their minds by Saturday, down from 41% late last week. Eight percent (8%) say they still don’t have an initial preference. The 59% who are certain how they will vote in the primary includes 69% of Romney supporters, 65% of Gingrich backers, 63% of Santorum’s voters, 58% of Paul’s and 54% of Perry’s.
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This South Carolina survey of 750 Likely Republican Primary Voters was conducted on January 16, 2012 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
Regardless of which candidate they favor, 69% of likely South Carolina Primary voters continue to think Romney will win the GOP nomination. A plurality (49%) believes he would be the strongest challenger to Obama, while primary voters still see Paul as the weakest potential challenger. Eighty-seven percent (87%) say the GOP candidate is likely to win the election in November, with 54% who believe it’s Very Likely.
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