Florida Polls

[Nbadan]

In a stunning, although rather not surprising turnaround for the Sunshine state, Mike Huckabee takes a comfortable lead over Mitt 'I'm as good as a evangelical christian' Romney and Rudy 'do as I say not as I do' 9iu11iani

This just in from Rasmussen Reports' latest automated telephone polling of Republican voters in Florida:

"Mike Huckabee now leads in the Sunshine State Primary with 27% of the vote. He is trailed closely by (Mitt) Romney at 23% and (Rudy) Giuliani at 19%. Fred Thompson is at 9% in the poll, (Sen.) John McCain at 6%, and (Rep.) Ron Paul at 4%." Rasmussen says the poll of 685 "likely" GOP primary voters was done yesterday and has a margin of error of +/- 4.5 percentage points on each number.

The polling firm adds that:

"Those figures reflect a stunning change in the race since November when Rasmussen Reports polling found Giuliani on top with 27% followed by Romney at 19% and Thompson at 16%. Since then, Huckabee has gained 18 percentage points and Romney picked up four points. Giuliani is down eight, Thompson is down seven, and McCain is down four."

Florida's primary is set for Jan. 29 -- which puts it after the key early contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada -- but before the Feb. 5 Super Tuesday sweepstakes when more than 20 states hold their primaries or caucuses (check USATODAY.com's primary calendar here). Even though both political parties are planning to penalize their Florida chapters for holding primaries earlier than the national leaders wanted -- the penalties include not seating the state's delegates at next year's conventions -- the odds are high that those threats will be dropped when the eventual nominees put on some pressure to let their delegates be recognized.

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USA Today

[Nbadan]

Huckabee closes in Florida
From NBC's Lauren Appelbaum

Huckabee continues to surge in Florida, according to a new poll conducted by Strategic Vision (R) to be released tomorrow. With a margin of error of +/- 5.5%, Giuliani and Huckabee are in close compe ion for first place with 25% and 21%, respectively. McCain comes in third with 15%, leaving Romney in fourth with 13%. Thompson has 10%, Paul has 4%, and Tancredo has 2%.

These results show a different story from the last Strategic Vision poll conducted in this state, Nov. 7 to 9. Huckabee was fifth in that poll with 9%, while Giuliani had 31%. McCain, Thompson and Romney were statistically tied for second with 13%, 13% and 12%, respectively.

On the Democratic side, Clinton retains her large lead in Florida with 48%, up one point from the previous Strategic Vision poll. Obama is up four points from last month to 31% and Edwards is down two points to 6%. The margin of error for this poll is +/- 6%. The polls for both the Republican and Democratic candidates were conducted December 14 to 16.

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