Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney holds a strong lead in his home state, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports poll of Michigan voters released Thursday.
Mr. Romney garners 38 percent of the votes in the poll, trailed by rival candidate Newt Gingrich who finished the poll with 23 percent. The poll is consistent with recent polls of other states that have Republican primaries and caucuses in February, as Mr. Romney continues to lead, trailed by Mr. Gingrich and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum.
Mr. Santorum finished the poll in third place, with 17 percent of votes, trailed by Texas congressman Paul who finished with 14 percent. Mr. Paul continues to finish at the bottom of recent polls in states with upcoming primary elections and caucus voting. He finished a recent poll of Nevada voters in fourth place as well.
Mr. Romney continues to benefit from his major advertising spending advantage.
The former Massachusetts governor continues to hold a strong lead in his home state. In September, Mr. Romney won the Michigan straw poll, with a total of 51 percent of the votes, trailed by Texas Governor Rick Perry at 17 percent. Since that poll, Mr. Perry has dropped out of the race. The straw poll was conducted by Mackinac Republican Leadership.
Michigan holds its Republican primary election on February 28th, the same day as the Arizona Republican primary election. Unlike Arizona though, the delegates in Michigan are divided proportionally among the candidates.
There will be a total of 30 delegates up for grabs in Michigan. Mr. Romney currently has the lead with 71 delegates, after grabbing 50 in his vicotory in Florida on Tuesday. He is trailed by Mr. Gingrich who has 23 delegates, and Mr. Santorum who currently has 12 delegates.
Candidates need 1,144 delegates to win the Republican nomination in 2012.
