Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul bested former House Speaker Newt Gingrich by six percentage points in the latest Mitchell/Rosetta Stone poll of likely voters in the Michigan Republican primary. Mr. Paul pulled in 11 percentage points and Mr. Gingrich garnered five percentage points.
Both Mr. Paul and Mr. Gingrich were defeated by former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. Mr. Santorum won the Michigan poll with 34 percent of the votes. Mr. Romney earned 25 percent of the votes.
The latest Mitchell/Rosetta Stone poll of likely voters in the Michigan Republican primary reveals a lot about the status quo of the Republican race in the Great Lakes State. While Mr. Santorum has surged 19 percentage points into first place since Mitchell/Rosetta Stone conducted a poll in the Great Lakes State last Tuesday, Mr. Gingrich has fallen 11 percentage points into fourth place. Although Mr. Paul has lost four percentage points since last Tuesday, the Texas congressman has moved into third place in Michigan.
While the Texas Republican is unlikely to catch up to the two front-runners in Michigan, he is a favorite among 18-39 year olds with 33 percent of the votes compared to Mr. Santorum’s 27 percent and Mr. Romney’s 13 percent.
Mr. Paul has launched a major fundraising campaign in order to fund his campaign activities in Michigan, Arizona and the Super Tuesday states. The “No One But Paul” money bomb kicked off on February 14th and has raised more than $1 million as of Wednesday morning.
Mr. Paul’s fundraising efforts are being assisted by Revolution PAC, a pro-Paul super PAC. Revolution PAC recently announced a “Ron Paul Powercast” in order to promote a “Million Dollar Marathon.” The “Ron Paul Powercast” is scheduled for February 25th.
If Revolution PAC raises $1 million, the pro-Paul super PAC will run ads in key election states in the days leading up to Super Tuesday.
Mitchell Research & Communications and Rosetta Stone Communications interviewed 455 likely voters in the Michigan Republican primary on February 14th. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.6 percentage points.
