Polls & Research

McCain, Hillary Lead in South Carolina

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - John McCain is the top United States presidential contender for Republican Party backers in the Palmetto State, according to a poll by American Research Group. 35 per cent of respondents would support the Arizona senator in the 2008 primary.

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani is second with 28 per cent, followed by former House of Representatives speaker Newt Gingrich with 15 per cent, Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney with five per cent, and Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee with one per cent.

In the sample of Democratic Party supporters, New York senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is first with 34 per cent, followed by former North Carolina senator John Edwards with 31 per cent, and Illinois senator Barack Obama with 10 per cent. Support is lower for Massachusetts senator John Kerry, Ohio congressman Dennis Kucinich, Delaware senator Joseph Biden, retired general Wesley Clark, and New Mexico governor Bill Richardson.

The Democratic presidential primary in South Carolina is tentatively scheduled for Jan. 29, 2008, after the Iowa and Nevada caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. The Republican contest in the Palmetto State will take place on Feb. 2, after Iowa and New Hampshire.

In 2004, Edwards won the Democratic South Carolina primary with 45 per cent of the vote, followed by Kerry with 30 per cent, reverend Al Sharpton with 10 per cent, Clark with seven per cent, former Vermont governor Howard Dean with five per cent, and Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman with two per cent. Incumbent president George W. Bush won the Republican convention unopposed.

Bush is ineligible for a third term in office. The next U.S. presidential election is scheduled for November 2008.

Polling Data

If the 2008 Republican presidential preference primary were being held today between (names rotated) Sam Brownback, Jim Gilmore, Rudy Giuliani, Newt Gingrich, Chuck Hagel, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter, John McCain, George Pataki, Mitt Romney, and Tommy Thompson, for whom would you vote?

If the 2008 Democratic presidential preference primary were being held today between (names rotated) Joe Biden, Wesley Clark, Hillary Clinton, Christopher Dodd, John Edwards, Mike Gravel, John Kerry, Dennis Kucinich, Barak Obama, Bill Richardson, and Tom Vilsack, for whom would you vote?