Huckabee bounds into South Carolina lead
December 6, 2007 — With the media beginning to pay attention to his upstart campaign, Mike Huckabee has moved from fifth place to take the presidential primary lead in the latest InsiderAdvantage/Majority Opinion poll of South Carolina Republicans. Combined with his favorable showing in recent polls in Iowa, Huckabee’s lead in South Carolina makes him a force to be reckoned with in next year’s fast-moving nomination campaign. A month ago, an InsiderAdvantage/Majority opinion poll of likely GOP primary voters in South Carolina had Rudy Giuliani in the lead with 25 points, followed by three candidates who’d reached double digits – Fred Thompson, John McCain and Mitt Romney, with Huckabee in fifth place with six percent. Following a surge in Iowa and his strong performance at last week’s CNN/YouTube debate in St. Petersburg, Huckabee now leads the pace with 23 percent. Giuliani and Thompson are tied at 17, followed by Romney with 14 percent and McCain with 10 percent. This survey was conducted on Dec. 3-4 and sampled 670 registered Republicans in South Carolina. It is weighted for age, race and gender. The margin of error is 3.5 percent. InsiderAdvantage CEO Matt Towery said the new poll included new wording in which respondents could say “yes,” “no.” or “maybe” when asked if they intend to vote in the upcoming South Carolina Republican president primary. But Huckabee’s lead would have been even greater if the poll had employed a tighter screen of likely Republican voters, Towery said. While Romney didn’t manage to climb out of fourth place, where he’s been in the poll for two months, he can take some solace in where his support is coming from. Romney has actually picked up support in the 45-64 and 65-plus age categories, possibly giving him an edge among the most likely voters in next year’s primary. Huckabee’s surge into the South Carolina lead mirrors his strong showing in flash polls conducted in Iowa and Florida after last week’s CNN/YouTube debate. The former Arkansas governor was the favorite of 44 percent of Florida Republicans and 32 percent of Iowans, the clear winner in both states. |
