The latest polls in the South Carolina GOP primary show that Romney's lead has been trimmed, leaving Gingrich in second place, Santorum in third and Ron Paul in fourth. Just a week ago Romney held a solid lead over Gingrich while Santorum had some breathing room over Paul. Get all the numbers and analysis from in the clip above.
"The new poll is out and it's tightened significantly. Mitt Romney is the favorite of 23% of South Carolina voters, narrowly edging out Newt Gingrich at 21%," Stu said.
Stu and Pat explained:
STU: Yeah. He was third by only by a point in the last one. So he's ‑‑ you know, remember this is very close. He kept complaining, you know, "Oh, this is a ‑‑ Romney is his home state." I mean, he's from ‑‑ Gingrich is from Georgia. So South Carolina and Florida you'd think would be, you know, generally a good area for him. But he is now 2 points behind Mitt Romney. Rick Santorum in third at 14%, Ron Paul at 13, Jon Huntsman at 7 and Rick Perry at 5. So I mean, first of all it looks like Rick Perry staying in the race, I mean, unless something dramatically changes, he's probably going to, you know, be done here after this. Huntsman as well is kind of, you know, well back in the pack. Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich are kind of competing for that "I'm not Mitt Romney" position. One of them needs to take it if you don't want Mitt Romney to get the nomination because he's off to a big lead at this point.PAT: And where was Ron Paul this that?
STU: Ron Paul 13%.
PAT: Okay. So he's right behind Santorum?
STU: Yeah. And that's still a good showing for him.
Pat cautioned that even though polls are showing Mitt Romney to be the "acceptable" candidate who can beat Barack Obama, people shouldn't settle.
"This is the time to go for your favorite. This is the time to go for the guy that you think is the guy. This isn't the time to settle," Pat explained.