Romney opens 21-point lead in South Carolina: Reuters/Ipsos poll

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Romney opens 21-point lead in South Carolina: Reuters/Ipsos poll

By Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON | Sat Jan 14, 2012 6:25pm EST

(Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has opened a wide lead over his rivals in the South Carolina primary election race, trouncing Newt Gingrich and gaining momentum in his march toward the party's nomination, a Reuters/Ipsos poll shows.

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, could all but quash his rivals' presidential aspirations with a victory in South Carolina on January 21 after winning the first state-by-state nominating contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Voters in South Carolina - who have favored Republicans in nine of the last 10 presidential elections - appear to have shrugged off attacks on Romney by rivals who accuse him of killing jobs as a private equity executive for Bain Capital in the 1990s.

The poll showed 37 percent of South Carolina Republican voters back Romney. Congressman Ron Paul and former Senator Rick Santorum tied for second place with 16 percent support.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/14/us-usa-campaign-poll-idUSTRE80D0U420120114

[onehandle]

1. Jerks falling for the crapola of the king of jerks. nt

[limpyhobbler]

2. i'm skeptical of that

from the article:

The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online from January 10-13 with a sample of 995 South Carolina registered voters. It included 398 Republicans and 380 Democrats.

Why are they polling half dems? Also these are registered voters, not likely voters.

[bigdarryl]

8. I think because Democrats can vote in therePrimary

plus don't be fooled by the word Democrat in SC those democrats mostly have a right wing ideology

[bigdarryl]

3. Isn't this an online poll

unless there's some MAJOR shifting to Romney over the last couple of day's I'm not believing this poll over PPP which has Romney in third place http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2012/01/santorum-rides-iowa-bump-into-nc.html

[Drunken Irishman]

4. This poll seems to be an outlier...

AS most other polls show the race far closer. We'll see, though.

[GoCubsGo]

5. Yep.

The local news showed poll results this morning that had Newt within 1 or 2 points, and Paul within 5.

[bigdarryl]

6. I will wait until PPP comes out with there polling this week

[grantcart]

7. It wasn't aimed at primary voters

Last 4 polls show Romney with about 5 points and tightening.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elections/state/SC/?chart=12SCPresRepPR&chart_mode=new

[PuffedMica]

9. I hope Romney spends a fortune losing to President Obama

He can help the economy by putting some of his 1%er money back into circulation.

[Dawson Leery]

10. All the other polls show Romney barely hanging on.

Likely this poll is an outlier.

[still_one]

11. Not so sure, same thing happened with Santorum in Iowa, he came out of no where. Watching Maher

last night they were interviewing people from South Carolina, and you could feel the hate they felt toward the President. It was "anyone but Obama". It didn't portray a very nice picture, and
if this is a reflection of the south, the prospects for winning are going to be an uphill battle.

[Robbins]

12. Poll

Let's hope this Is wrong.We want this to be a fight.If Romney wins SC the primarys become a cornation of romeny and attacks decrease
on him.If Gingrich or Santorum win SC this fight keeps going and more attacks on Romney and Bain Capitol continue.The more
the true business record of Romney can come out the weaker he becomes.Gingrich and Perry can be featured in Ads making case
against Romney.Also the more Romney moves to the Right the better Obama will look.

[rug]

13. It's over.

[DeathToTheOil]

14. Bradley Effect, Mormon-Style?

[Major Hogwash]

17. What do you mean?

[book_worm]

15. this poll seems fishy, but I have no doubt Romney will be their nominee.

[Major Hogwash]

16. There's still a week until the primary, so Mitt's numbers could fall before then.

Seems like his story of Bain is coming out about the same time as these polls, so I think we'll see in a week if the Bain story has any impact.