Rasmussen Reports: Giuliani remains at 25%, McCain 18%, Thompson 15%, Romney 12%

[flpoljunkie]

2008 Republican Presidential Primary
Giuliani 25% McCain 18% Thompson 15%

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani continues to lead the race for the Republican Presidential nomination. However, for the second straight week, his support is down to the 25% level in a Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. That’s the lowest level of support he’s enjoyed in weekly Rasmussen Reports polling all year.

Still, it gives him a seven-point advantage over Arizona Senator John McCain who is supported by 18%. McCain reached a high of 22% support in January and then slipped as low as 14% two weeks ago before recovering a bit last week. Two weeks ago, Giuliani led McCain by 16 percentage points.

Former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson has not formally entered the race, but remains in third place at 15% while former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney once again enjoys support from 12%. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who recently indicated there’s a good chance he’ll jump in the race this fall, slipped a point this week and is now the favorite for just 7%. Numbers for Thompson, Romney, and Gingrich have been very stable over the past six weeks.

The Rasmussen Reports sample includes not only Republicans, but also independents who say they are likely to vote in a Republican Primary. When only Republicans are included, Giuliani still enjoys a seven point lead over McCain. That dynamic stands in stark contract to the Democratic competition where Senator Hillary Clinton holds an eight-point lead among Democrats while Senator Barack Obama has a substantial lead among Independents who say they will vote in a Democratic Primary.

Rasmussen Reports releases updated polling data on the Republican nominating contest every Tuesday. Results for the Democrats are updated on Mondays. The current survey is based upon national telephone interviews with 624 Likely Republican Primary Voters conducted May 7-10, 2007. Virtually all interviews for this survey were completed before last week’s debate featuring ten Republican candidates. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/2008_republican_presidential_primary

[Hepburn]

1. Now that is ironic, IMO:

Mitt has campaigned like crazy....and he is behind Fred Thompson who has basically done nothing except look possibly interested in a run. LOL, if this does not send Mitt a message...nothing will.

[flpoljunkie]

2. Unfortunately, Mitt is well financed and has folks like Doro Bush co-chairing fundraisers for him.