[Jeff Head]

That's a good percent to add in there...and actually is the most important one in the end.

In that split, Mitt maintains his similar percentage...but the single conservative is brought up, and his percentage becomes much closer to Romney's.

Romney 12 at 34.29%
Single Conservtive 11 at 31.42%
Paul 10 at 28.57%
Huntsman 2 at 5.71

[who knows what evil?]

I do not believe Paul is going to see similar numbers in southern states...NH is full of libertarian free-state types that ‘mask’ themselves as Republicans...that won’t be the case in South Carolina and Florida. If Paul drops off by 15 per cent; who ‘picks up’ those votes?

[Vigilanteman]

Or, another way to look at it is that by excluding the third party candidate you have:

Romney 12 at 48.00%
Single Conservtive 11 at 44.00%
Huntsman 2 at 8.00%

I won't get into the argument as to whether the candidates making up the "Single Conservative" are, in fact, really conservative. The important thing is that their supporters perceive them to be so and, while never 100% certain, are more likely to vote accordingly than the unpredictable Paulistas.

Accordingly, this sort of puts Jon Huntsman into an interesting position as a broker between the conservative wing and the moderate wing of the GOP, doesn't it?

[douginthearmy]

Romney 12 at 34.29%
Single Conservtive 11 at 31.42%
Paul 10 at 28.57%
Huntsman 2 at 5.71

Establishment: 33.3%
Conservative: 33.3%
Fringe: 33.3%