Rasmussen: Romney 35%, Gingrich 21%, Santorum 16% en SC

Rasmussen:

Jon Huntsman’s endorsement seems to be already paying off for Mitt Romney in South Carolina. With the former Utah governor’s decision to drop out of the Republican presidential race, Romney moves even further ahead in the latest Rasmussen Reports survey of Saturday’s South Carolina Primary.

The former Massachusetts governor now earns 35% support from likely South Carolina GOP Primary Voters, according to the latest telephone survey in the state. That’s up from 28% late last week. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich remains in second place with 21% of the vote, followed by former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum and Texas Congressman Ron Paul, each with 16%. The vote totals for Gingrich, Santorum and Paul are unchanged from the previous survey.

Texas Governor Rick Perry runs last with five percent (5%) support, essentially unchanged from six percent (6%) last week. Huntsman, who announced Monday that he was quitting the race, picked up five percent (5%) in the previous survey.

These latest findings come in a survey from Monday evening, after Huntsman’s announcement but before the remaining five candidates held a debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Romney’s rivals continued to question his conservative credentials and to batter his business record in last night’s debate. But Romney has now moved into a tie with Gingrich among voters in the state who call themselves Very Conservative and continues to run well ahead among those who are Somewhat Conservative. Sixty-two percent (62%) of all GOP voters in the state view Romney’s business record as a reason to support him.

Among primary voters in the Palmetto State, 39% think Romney would do a better job managing the economy, followed by Gingrich with 23% support and Paul at 19%. The rest of the field is in single digits. Nationally, 48% of all voters think Romney would do a better job than Obama with the economy.

Just 33% of South Carolina primary voters say they could change their minds by Saturday, down from 41% late last week. Eight percent (8%) say they still don’t have an initial preference. The 59% who are certain how they will vote in the primary includes 69% of Romney supporters, 65% of Gingrich backers, 63% of Santorum’s voters, 58% of Paul’s and 54% of Perry’s.