South Carolina Polls Give McCain, Huckabee the Advantage One Day Out 
Email this article
Printer friendly page
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 18, 2008
Columbia, SC (LifeNews.com) — One day out from the next primary battle in South Carolina, the polls show John McCain and Mike Huckabee continue to lead the Republican field. Surveys indicate Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson are battling for third place and that Ron Paul and Rudy Giuliani have little chance to make much of an impact.
An average of the five most recent polls gives McCain, who won in New Hampshire, about 28 percent of the Republican vote and Huckabee, the Iowa victor, about 24 percent.
Romney comes in with about 17 percent of the GOP vote and Thompson, despite working the state in a last gasp effort, has just over 14 percent.
The Michigan primary results didn’t seem to give Romney any momentum or hurt McCain and Huckabee’s numbers in the state as the two have continued their pre-Michigan lead.
McCain has the lead in four of the five recent polls and a Rasmussen survey shows him tied with Huckabee.
There is little discernable trend in the polling data from those survey firms that conduct tracking polling.
Reuters/Zogby shows McCain at 29 percent, Huckabee at 22 percent, Romney at 15 and Thompson at 13. Two previous polls earlier this week show no change in McCain’s numbers, a one point drop in Huckabee’s, a two point gain in Romney’s and a one point gain for Thompson — all within the margin of error.
Rasmussen’s current poll has the race at McCain and Huckabee 24, Romney 18 and Thompson 14 — numbers that place the candidates about where they were pre-Michigan.
Looking at the trend among all polling firms, McCain’s pre-Michigan surge seems to have solidified, Huckabee seems to have rebounded slightly from his third place finishes in New Hampshire and Michigan, Romney has received a slight Michigan bump, and Thompson has improved his numbers but not enough to finish in the top two.
