Poll: Romney Gains Lead In S. Carolina
MIAMI (CBSMiami.com) – While polling for the biggest fish in the early primary season, Florida, hasn't been conducted since the Iowa caucus; new GOP primary polling out of South Carolina gave Mitt Romney good news Friday.
South Carolina will be the last primary to vote before Florida, making it the final test before the candidates try to win the state that regularly decides the presidential election.
According to a new CNN/Time poll, Mitt Romney received 37 percent of the vote in the latest South Carolina poll.
Romney added 17 percent to his lead in South Carolina after his razor-thin victory in Iowa.
But, Rick Santorum made the biggest jump from 4 percent in early December to 19 percent in the new poll.
Santorum has seen his numbers surge after performing extraordinarily well in Iowa by labeling himself the only true conservative in the GOP primary field.
Newt Gingrich, who surged to the lead in late November, had the biggest decline in support in the Palmetto State. Gingrich's numbers dropped from 43 percent to just 18 percent.
Texas Governor Rick Perry, who announced he was running in South Carolina and earlier this week decided to stay in the race by focusing on Carolina, polled at just 5 percent in the new CNN poll, down 3 percent from early December.
But, Romney can't rest on his laurels just yet in South Carolina.
According to the poll, nearly 50 percent of the voters said they might change their mind on who to support before the primary is held in a couple of weeks.
Deeper inside the numbers, Santorum's support came more from "Born Again Evangelicals" than any other group.
Romney received a lot of support from independent Republican voters in the state, according to the CNN poll.
