Posted on 10/28/2007 6:32:12 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Presidential hopeful Fred Thompson has soared to a nearly 2-to-1 lead over his closest Republican rival in the latest statewide poll.
In survey results announced Wednesday by Strategic Vision, the former U.S. senator from Tennessee led Rudy Giuliani, 39 percent to 20 percent.
Thompson added 4 percentage points to the advantage he enjoyed over the former New York mayor in a Strategic Vision poll taken last month.
All the other Republican candidates are in single digits.
Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York widened her lead over U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois in the Democratic campaign.
Clinton led Obama, 40 percent to 27 percent.
Former North Carolina senator John Edwards was a distant third at 11 percent. No other Democrat had more than 5 percent.
Clinton's increasing strength in Georgia reflects a trend demonstrated by national polls and surveys in other states.
In Georgia, Clinton is outpolling Obama even among his fellow African-Americans, said David E. Johnson, chief executive officer of Strategic Vision.
Thompson's dominance in the Peach State stands out against his numbers in other states, which have been mostly flat in recent weeks.
"Much of this can be attributed to former supporters of Newt Gingrich going for Thompson, now that Gingrich is officially out of the race," Johnson said.
Gingrich, a Georgian and a former U.S. House speaker, was backed by 9 percent of the Republicans surveyed by Strategic Vision in September.
University of Georgia political science professor Charles Bullock speculated that much of Thompson's support might be coming from north Georgia.
He's likely to be especially well-known there, Bullock said, because of exposure in the Chattanooga media market, based in the candidate's home state.
Johnson confirmed that Thompson's support was strongest in north Georgia and in southern Georgia, including Savannah.
Giuliani, he said, did relatively well in the Atlanta metropolitan area.
Many Chatham County elected officials, including all of the area's GOP state legislators, have endorsed Thompson.
Johnson cited the numbers of undecided voters - 13 percent of the Republicans and 12 percent of the Democrats.
That's "fairly high" this close to primary elections that begin in January and suggests that the numbers are still subject to change, he said.
Bullock restated what many others have said: Georgia's Feb. 5 primary election might not matter much.
In both parties, he said, it's at least possible that one of the candidates, especially Clinton, may build up unstoppable momentum in earlier contests.
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LATEST statewide STRATEGIC VISION POLL*
Republicans
Fred Thompson, 39 percent
Rudy Giuliani, 20 percent
John McCain, 9 percent
Mike Huckabee, 7 percent
Mitt Romney, 6 percent
Ron Paul, 3 percent
Tom Tancredo, 2 percent
Duncan Hunter, 1 percent
Undecided, 13 percent
Democrats
Hillary Clinton, 40 percent
Barack Obama, 27 percent
John Edwards, 11 percent
Bill Richardson, 5 percent
Joseph Biden, 3 percent
Chris Dodd, 1 percent
Dennis Kucinich, 1 percent
Undecided, 12 percent
* Oct. 19-21 survey that included 368 Republicans voters and 328 Democrats, all considered "likely voters." Margin of error for those groups, plus or minus 6.5 percent.
Source: Strategic Vision
Anything that shows erosion in support for a liberal like Giuliani is a good thing-—a VERY GOOD THING indeed!!!
With the other state primaries so early, will the GA primary even matter?
I think this demonstrates Thompsons strength in the South, the bulwark of the Republican base.
Now that makes me feel lonely up here in NY's boonies, under the rule of the beast. ;^)
February 5th, the day of the Georgia primary, is the so-called “Super Tuesday!” Of course wins on that day will matter. Remember, Fred is very likely to win South Carolina in January and come in strong in Iowa, and win the Florida primary on January 29th!!
I appreciate your optimism, but if Sen. Thompson loses in Iowa and then in New Hampshire, he essentially MUST win South Carolina. It’s not as long a long shot as the scenario for Sen. McCain to win the nomination, but it looks a lot more realistic for either Guiliani or Romney to win it all.
Do you really see Mayor Giuliani of New York City winning South Carolina? Really?!!
I must confess, I am enjoying Spitzer’s misadventures. I don’t like the scare of drivers’ licenses, but it is Halloween and all. I watched him as AG and he was despicable there as well.
LLS
Who has said anything about Guiliani or Romney in this post to be labeled a rootietootie or a mittwitt? This thread is about poll results not policy differences. I support neither Guiliani nor Romney, so I know you’re not referring to me.
People keep ignoring delegates. The RealClearPolitics averages of polls show:
Mitt wins IA, NH, and probably MI. He's campaigning hard in SC, and could possibly take that. Then he's finished, unless a "bandwagon" momentum suddenly appears.
Rudy is way ahead in FL, competitive in SC, and will get some delegates from both IA and NH. Then Super Tuesday hits and all the huge delegate counts come in for him, except AZ.
The dirty little secret is that McCain is polling better against Hillary in KY, KS, MI, OH, WA, (and, I think) VA than Rudy (barely) and far better than Fred.
So I keep asking, where will Fred get his delegates? He not only needs wins in SC and MI, but #2 finishes in IA, NH, just to make it to Super Tuesday.
No mam, I was not refering to you in any way. I will make certain to seek your written approval before I make any future statements. I really meant the first sentence.
LLS
Thank you, that sounds reasonable to me.
Interesting. I’m not up on the mechanics of all this. When you say he NEEDS second place in IA and NH, etc, to make it to Super Tuesday, do you mean he literally MUST? Do you get elimated without getting a certain number of delegates along the way?
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