Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is leading rival Rick Santorum among voters in Arizona, according to a poll released Monday.
The Public Polling Policy poll of voters in Arizona shows Mr. Romney leading with 36 percent of the votes, trailed by Mr. Santorum at 33 percent.
The results show former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in a distant third place with 16 percent, trailed by Texas congressman Ron Paul at 9 percent.
The tight race between Mr. Romney and Mr. Santorum in Arizona is similar to the race in Michigan, where Mr. Santorum holds a slight lead.
Mr. Romney has gained on Mr. Santorum in Michigan over the last week though, if he can win the primary elections in both Michigan and Arizona next week it would provide a boost to his campaign which received a major blow when Mr. Santorum won three primary victories in one night on February 7th.
“Mitt Romney’s holding onto a small advantage in Arizona right now,” said Dean
Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “The big thing to watch over the next week
will be whether Newt Gingrich’s supporters stick with him or jump ship to Santorum
because he’s a more viable candidate. If that happens this race could get even closer.”
The PPP poll found that an endorsement in Arizona from either Governor Jan Brewer or Sheriff Joe Arpaio could give any of the remaining candidates a significant boost. A total of 25 percent of the voters surveyed said they would vote for a candidate endorsed by Governor Brewer, and 32 percent would vote for a candidate endorsed by Mr. Arpaio.
Mr. Arpaio endorsed Texas Governor Rick Perry in November, and Mr. Perry endorsed Mr. Gingrich upon dropping out of the race last month. It will be interesting to see if the Gingrich campaign team reaches out to the sheriff for an endorsement prior to next week’s election in Arizona.
“This race has been up and down, and it has been fluctuating,” said Arizona Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, in a statement obtained by USA Today. “Everybody’s been on top, and everybody’s been on bottom. Now we’ve got to determine exactly who is going to be the candidate, so I think this will probably be one of the best-watched debates that we’ve seen.”
Governor Brewer’s recent argument with President Barack Obama at an airport in Arizona raised her profile within the Republican party. An endorsement by Ms. Brewer would help Mr. Romney to further make his case that he is “severely conservative,” as he stated in a speech at last week’s Conservative Political Action Conference.
Mr. Romney’s lead in Arizona is supported mostly by women, Hispanics, seniors and moderate voters according to the poll.
The poll was conducted between February 17th and February 19th among 412 likely primary voters in Arizona with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.8 percentage points.
The poll results show that the presidential debate in Arizona to be moderated by CNN on Wednesday will be crucial for all of the remaining candidates. The last nationally televised debate occurred prior to the Florida Republican primary election, and a lot has occurred in the race since then.
