A new SC poll has McCain and Rudy leading the pack in the Palmetto State. Romney comes in 5th at 8 percent, behind Fred Thompson and Newt Gingrich:
John McCain led the field, with 25 percent, followed closely by Rudy Giuliani at 20 percent. Then, a surprise, Fred Thompson, who is not even in the race, finished with 16 percent. And another surprise, Newt Gingrich, also not in yet, was fourth with 12 percent. And Mitt Romney came in with eight percent. No other candidate finished with more than two percent.
In a head-to-head matchup, McCain led Giuliani by a point, well within the margin of error. McCain had a larger lead over Fred Thompson, 52 percent to 38 percent.
When it came to how voters looked at the candidates, Giuliani had the highest favorable rating, with 74 percent, followed by McCain at 66 percent and Gingrich at 63 percent.
McCain, Giuliani and Gingrich also had extremely high name recognition. All the respondents had heard of McCain, only two percent had not heard of Giuliani and three percent had not heard of Gingrich. On the other hand, 30 percent of voters had never heard of Fred Thompson, which suggests he might have the most room to grow.