A surprising national poll released Tuesday found Texas Rep. Ron Paul surging to second place in the GOP presidential field, coming within eight percentage points of front-runner Mitt Romney.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll results show Paul at 21 percent nationally, with Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, at 29 percent.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich scored 19 percent support in the poll, conducted Feb. 2–6, while former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum took 18 percent.
Although national polls are largely insignificant in a primary season where individual states are of crucial importance, they do indicate trends in voter preferences.
Reuters/Ipsos found that despite big wins by Romney in Florida and Nevada, his popularity actually declined since early January. Meanwhile, Paul’s support grew by five percent.
Romney “still hasn’t really convinced all the Republicans across the country that he’s the guy to get behind,” said Ipsos research director Chris Jackson in a statement.
Gingrich’s support slipped slightly, while Santorum’s support also grew by five percentage points since early January.
This article was written by Steven Nelson for the Daily Caller; full article at the Daily Caller …
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The operative phrase “registered voters” minimizes the value of this poll. Unless only “likely” and/or “highly likely” voters are sampled, there is little assurance that the poll’s results will have any bearing on the election itself. Furthermore, although the cost is often prohibitive, a state-by-state poll would more accurately reflect the state of the election, given that the electoral college votes on a state-by-state basis.
February 8, 2012 at 3:39 pm