Virginia Republican Vote Could See Mike Huckabee Come Closer to John McCain 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 12, 2008
Richmond, VA (LifeNews.com) — Tonight’s results form the Republican primary battle in Virginia could see Mike Huckabee come closer to John McCain and some recent polls indicate. The last survey in the race shows Huckabee had closed the gap from about 30 points to just 10 and the results could show even more momentum by the time all precincts are counted.
Two polls of Republican voters in Virginia released at the end of last week showed McCain leading by 32 and 28 points respectively.
Mason-Dixon had McCain in front by a 55 to 27 percent margin and Survey USA showed McCain leading 57 to 25.
However, a new Survey USA poll released yesterday finds Huckabee trailing by just 11 percent and closing the gap to 48 to 37. That’s a gain of 12 percent for Huckabee in a matter of days and a loss of 9 percent for McCain as GOP voters more seriously consider their selection today.
Survey USA officials suggested the big movement for Huckabee came on the heels of a big weekend which showed him winning the Kansas caucus and the Louisiana primary and coming close to tying McCain Washington state.
The polling firm says the momentum could continue into today.
"Any momentum Huckabee accrued from those wins would only partially be reflected in [this new poll] half of which was completed before the results of the Saturday wins were known," Survey USA said.
Pro-life voters are also helping Huckabee as the election approaches.
Survey USA finds 63 percent of Republicans in Virginia say they are pro-life on the issue of abortion and only 34 percent say they support legal abortions.
Of the pro-life voters, Huckabee leads 45 to 39 percent while pro-abortion voters back McCain on a 67 to 20 percentage point margin.
The Survey USA poll conducted last week showed Republicans split 64 to 33 percent in opposition to abortion, meaning the polling data is consistent in showing GOP voters are pro-life by a 2-1 margin.
