Mitt Romney remains the first choice of registered Republican voters nationally in Gallup Daily tracking of the GOP race. He holds a 27% to 19% lead over Newt Gingrich, followed by Rick Santorum with 15% and Ron Paul with 12%. These results, based on interviewing conducted Dec. 29-Jan. 5, give Romney one of his largest leads over a competitor to date.
The interviewing period included in the latest report straddles the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses in which Romney edged out Santorum by eight votes, with Paul in third place.
Santorum, who received 2% to 4% support from Republican voters nationally throughout most of December, is now seeing the same type of rise in support as Rick Perry, Herman Cain, and Gingrich enjoyed at times last year.
Gallup interviewing Wednesday and Thursday night -- after Santorum's strong showing in Iowa -- shows his support at 21%, up significantly from where he was last month. This places him second behind Romney's average of 29% support in those same two post-Iowa nights of interviewing.
CNN reports:
Mitt Romney's numbers in South Carolina are surging, and he now has a solid lead over his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination, according to a new survey of likely GOP primary voters in the Palmetto state.
And a CNN/Time/ORC International poll released Friday also indicates that former Sen. Rick Santorum's support in South Carolina has soared, while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's numbers have nose-dived.
Full results (pdf)
...According to the poll, 37% of likely GOP primary voters in South Carolina say they are currently backing Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who is making his second bid for the White House. Romney has nearly doubled his support from CNN's last survey in the Palmetto State, which was conducted early last month. The new poll was conducted Wednesday and Thursday, after Romney's eight-vote victory over Santorum in Tuesday night's Iowa caucuses.
Santorum and Gingrich are battling for second place, with Santorum at 19% and Gingrich at 18%. But they appear to be going in opposite directions, with Santorum's support up 15 points from last month and Gingrich down 25 points from early December. Gingrich, once the front-runner in Iowa and in national polling, finished fourth in the Iowa caucus results.
