WASHINGTON – In South Carolina, where Republicans vote on Saturday, Arizona Sen. John McCain maintained a steady 7-point edge on former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, 29 percent to 22 percent, although rival and Mitt Romney gained three points overnight to climb into third place at 15 percent.
The poll had a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.
Nevada and South Carolina are the next battlegrounds in the race to choose candidates for November’s election to succeed President George W. Bush, with the winners in each state hoping to pick up some momentum as the calendar accelerates to February 5 contests in 22 states.
So far, no candidate in either party has been able to build up any real steam in a chaotic race that has seen five winners in the first five major state contests.
Voting
In Nevada, Democrats clashed in the past week over a plan to allow voting in hotels on the Las Vegas Strip, approved by a federal judge on Thursday, and over Clinton’s comments on race that were seen by some as a slight on civil rights leader Martin Luther King.
The Republican contest in Nevada drew less attention from the media and candidates than the Democrat race and was not polled by Zogby.
The rolling tracking polls of 815 likely Republican voters in South Carolina was taken Tuesday through Thursday and will continue one more day.
Duncan Hunter, who most of the press are ignoring, was campaigning in Nevada, after picking up several endorsements.
In a rolling poll, the most recent day’s results are added while the oldest day’s results are dropped in order to track changing momentum.
Original information supplied by Reuters
