Mitt Romney’s status as the overwhelming favourite to be the Republican nominee
for president is confirmed by a new poll out of South Carolina. It has Romney on 37 per cent, 18 points ahead
of his nearest rival Rick Santorum. South Carolina is the next primary contest after New Hampshire, which takes place on Tuesday and which Romney is expected to win comfortably.
The significance of these new numbers is that South Carolina, the first primary in the south, has long been considered inhospitable territory for Romney. (In the 2008 primary there, he finished a
disappointing fourth with 15 percent of the vote). If Romney is to be denied the nomination, his opponents will have to inflict a defeat on him there and that currently looks unlikely.
One of the things that is helping Romney is how the opposition to him remains divided. Santorum and Gingrich combined are polling what Romney is polling.
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