Politics
Mitt Romney Edging Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul for South Carolina Voters
Around the State
Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and U.S. Rep Ron Paul (R-TX) | Credit: Gage Skidmore - FlickrSet up by legendary Republican operative Lee Atwater as a firewall for George H.W. Bush in 1988, the South Carolina primary has proven decisive in recent years. In 1988, after losing the Iowa caucus to Bob Dole, Bush went on to win the New Hampshire primary and South Carolina to seal the nomination. In 1996, after losing New Hampshire to Pat Buchanan, Dole won South Carolina and went on to be the nominee. In 2000, George W. Bush, who won Iowa but lost New Hampshire to John McCain, won South Carolina and won the nomination. In 2008, after losing Iowa to Mike Huckabee, McCain triumphed in New Hampshire and South Carolina.
With Romney having won Iowa by the skin of his teeth and romping to victory in New Hampshire, the other hopefuls are looking to slow him down in South Carolina. A win for Romney would make his nomination almost inevitable and would probably force some of the other candidates out of the race.
A poll from American Research Group released on Friday found that Romney had a small lead over former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Romney leads in the Palmetto State with 29 percent while Gingrich takes second with 25 percent and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas places third with 20 percent. Texas Gov. Rick Perry places fourth with 9 percent while former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania takes fifth with 7 percent. Former Gov. Jon Huntsman of Utah takes sixth place with 1 percent of the vote.
Gingrich leads with evangelical voters and tea party supporters. Compared to an ARG poll of South Carolina taken last week, Santorum is dropping in the Palmetto State while Paul is on the rise there. In that poll, Santorum took 24 percent and Paul 9 percent.
The poll of 600 likely South Carolina primary voters was taken Jan. 11-12 and had a margin of error of +/- 4 percent.
A poll from Rasmussen Reports released on Friday also finds Romney ahead of Gingrich, though with a more comfortable margin.
Romney takes 28 percent of those surveyed while Gingrich places second with 21 percent. Santorum, who had been second in a Rasmussen poll last week, drops back to third, where he is tied with Paul with each of the candidates taking 16 percent. Perry takes 6 percent in the poll while Huntsman garners 5 percent.
The Rasmussen poll of 750 likely Republican primary voters was taken Jan. 12 and had a margin of error of +/- 4 percent.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
Comments (6)
big corporations that own D.C. and the media already picked the nominee and THIS time around guess what....It will not matter all of the money and bribes and corruption in America won't change the minds of the people!
They have seen the truth with this two party system and corruption and what they have seen can not be unseen!
Don't Get Fooled South Carolina
"Dum Spiro Spero", ........meaning While I Breathe I Hope.
Santorum will start WWIII. He has said he will fire against Iran. If people don't like Iran, that is fine. Ask them if their dislike is strong enough to push us into another PREEMPTIVE war that WILL bankrupt us and cost american lives.
Gingrich is in the pocket of wall-street. He took the money from Fanny May and Freddy Mac and doesn't even dispute it. He WILL continue the same policies.
Romney is perhaps the worst. We know who pays for his Super-PACs and we also know it isn't free. He will treat this country like a business, but his loyalty will be to the stakeholders. The stakeholders are the ones funding him.
Ron Paul gets his money from individuals. Ron Paul gets his money from military veterans. He gives back a percentage of his salary (a sizable amount) and will not fleece the tax payer by using the pension system. Ron Paul is the ONLY true christian, as he won't murder (assassinations, killing the Iranian nuclear scientists, etc) and the only one who follows the Christian WORDS of Christ "do unto others". He lives the very message the others say.
Please tell the others, committed or not.
Please get them out to vote.
The NDAA will prevent another chance, as any future people who would dare to LIVE as example can be removed without even a whisper.
Thank you.
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It will open your eyes if you did not understand already. You will need to add www. to rest of the link to make it work.