'Believable' Huckabee Soars in Crucial Southern State
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee soared to the top of the GOP pack in the key state of South Carolina in a major poll released Friday.
Huckabee captured 24 percent of registered GOP voters, according to the CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll. His closest opponent, former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee, garnered 17 percent.
When the same poll was conducted in July, Huckabee had only three percent of the voters' support. The survey suggested his drastic improvement was in response to his personality – the former Baptist preacher tops the list of the most believable candidate named by likely GOP voters.
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While Huckabee soars, some of his rivals have plummeted in the latest poll.
In July, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani led in South Carolina with 30 percent. He now, however, has dropped to third place to tie former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at 16 percent. For Romney, the poll result was a big improvement compared to his six percent of support in the previous survey.
Similar to Giuliani, Sen. John McCain of Arizona was also disappointed by poll results which show he fell from 21 percent in July, the second highest, to fifth place with 13 percent. Following McCain, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas took in 11 percent – a sizable increase from the two percent in July.
Friday's CNN survey showed different results compared to the Mason-Dixon poll released last weekend. The Mason-Dixon poll had also showed Huckabee in the lead, but by only a modest margin.
In the Mason-Dixon survey, Huckabee came in at 20 percent with Giuliani, rather than Thompson, coming in a close second at 17 percent. Romney was still third at 15 percent, followed by Thompson at 14 percent, and McCain remained at fifth with 10 percent.
The latest CNN survey also conducted a hypothetical face-off between Republican and Democratic top contenders. It showed the two major parties are in a dead heat in the Palmetto state.
Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York was at 48 percent compared to fellow New Yorker Giuliani with 47 percent.
Meanwhile, Clinton had slightly less support than Huckabee in South Carolina, with 47 to 48 percent, respectively.
The survey suggests Democrats have a realistic chance of winning South Carolina for the first time in 32 years. Former President Jimmy Carter was the last Democratic candidate to win over a Republican state.
South Carolina's GOP primary is set for Jan. 19.
