Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum are statistically tied in Arizona, according to a CNN/Time poll of voters in Arizona released Tuesday.
Mr. Romney finished the poll with 36 percent of the votes, with Mr. Santorum trailing him within the four percentage point margin of error at 32 percent.
The Arizona Republican primary election is projected to be a two man race, as Mr. Gingrich finished the poll in a distant third place with 18 percent of the votes, followed by Texas congressman Ron Paul at six percent.
The close finish between Mr. Romney and Mr. Santorum heightens the significance of Wednesday night’s nationally televised presidential candidate debate in Arizona, to be moderated by CNN.
Mr. Gingrich has had some strong performances in past debates, such as the two in South Carolina that helped him win the election there. It will be interesting to see if poll results following Wednesday’s debate show any movement up or down for Mr. Gingrich or Mr. Paul, who have been consistently trailing Mr. Romney and Mr. Santorum in recent polls of voters in Michigan and Arizona.
The Michigan and Arizona Republican primary elections are scheduled for February 28th.
The CNN/Time poll results show that Mr. Santorum is slightly gaining traction on Mr. Romney in Arizona. The Rasmussen Reports survey of Arizona voters released last Thursday showed Mr. Romney leading Mr. Santorum 38-31 percent.
The CNN/Time poll was conducted between February 17th and February 20th among 467 likely Republican primary voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.
