Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum are in a virtual tie in Michigan, site of the Feb. 28 Republican presidential primary, according to a new NBC News/Marist poll.

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who grew up in the Detroit area, had 37 percent. Santorum, the former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, trailed with 35 percent. Texas Rep. Ron Paul had 13 percent, while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had 8 percent.

The candidates debate tonight in Arizona, site of another Feb. 28 primary, starting at 8 P.M. EST. The NBC/Marist poll showed Romney with a wide lead in Arizona.

Michigan is considered a key battleground, since a home state loss would be an embarrassment for Romney.The poll found him benefitting from a perception he is the best GOP bet to beat President Barack Obama in the fall.

Marist found that 51 percent thought Romney had the best chance to win; only 24 percent thought Santorum had the best chance. And 52 percent of those polled said that characteristic was the most important factor in their vote.

The poll was conducted Feb. 19-20. 715 likely GOP voters were surveyed. Margin of error is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.

Mitt Romney could be in for a rough night Tuesday, as polls suggest former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum has a chance to win the Minnesota caucuses.

Romney's camp put out a memo Tuesday morning that looks ahead, and perhaps tries to lessen the impact of the Tuesday result.

"It is difficult to see what (former Massachusetts) Governor Romney’s opponents can do to change the dynamics of the race in February," said political director Rich Beeson in the memo. "No delegates will be awarded on February 7 -- Colorado and Minnesota hold caucuses with nonbinding preference polls, and the Missouri primary is purely a beauty contest.

"Except for the Maine and Wyoming nonbinding caucuses running through February, the next contests are on February 28 in states where Governor Romney is strong. Arizona’s 29 delegates will be bound in a winner-take-all contest. Michigan, the state where Governor Romney grew up, binds 30 delegates"

Beeson then looked ahead to March, with optimism.

"The rules for the March states offer even less comfort to Governor Romney’s opponents. With so many states and territories voting, organization and resources are key. Ours is the only campaign to be active in all of these states, and we have the resources and organization to maximize delegate totals according to each state’s rules," he said.

Santorum, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Rep. Ron Paul all see possibilities in March. Gingrich and Santorum eye southern states holding primaries and caucuses, where GOP voters tend to be more conservative. Paul is pushing hard in caucus states.

Beeson says he's unworried. "Governor Romney is the only candidate prepared to compete in simultaneous contests across the country," he said.

"Speaker Gingrich’s and Senator Santorum’s campaigns have resource challenges. The remaining February states may not be kind to them, and their hopes for a comeback in March may be very difficult and based on an incomplete understanding of the delegate selection rules."

Younger voters have tended to be Mitt Romney's weakest age group, but he won more support Tuesday from voters under 30 than any of the Republican candidates.

The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement, which studies youth voting issues, found in a preliminary analysis that Romney topped Texas Rep. Ron Paul by 16 percentage points.

About 100,000 young Floridians voted in the Tuesday GOP primary. Romney got 41 percent. Paul had 25 percent, followed by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, 21 percent, and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, 13 percent.

Mitt Romney's lead is 20 in a new Suffolk University/7NEWS (WSVN-Miami) poll of likely Republican voters in Tuesday's Florida primary.

The former Massachusetts governor had 47 percent, while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had 27 percent. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum got 12 percent, while Texas Rep. Ron Paul had 9 percent.

“It is almost certain that Mitt Romney will top his 39 percent showing in New Hampshire,” said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center in Boston. “This poll also tells us that Romney could reverse and exceed Newt Gingrich’s percentage and margin in South Carolina – and do it in Gingrich’s backyard.”

Mitt Romney's lead in Tuesday's Florida presidential primary is up to 14 percentage points, according to a new Quinnipiac poll released Monday.

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, leads former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, 43-29 percent among likely Republican voters.

24 percent say they could still change their minds, while 7 percent were undecided.

Romney is "headed toward a double digit victory that touches all the GOP bases," said assistant poll director Peter Brown. He carries all regions of the state, as well as Tea Party backers and evangelical Christians.

If Romney wins big Tuesday, Brown said, "it's hard to see where Gingrich goes from here."

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and Texas Rep. Ron Paul each had 11 percent.

539 likely voters were surveyed Jan. 27-29. Margin of error is plus or minus 4.2 percentage points..

With four days left before Florida's presidential primary, a new poll finds Mitt Romney opening up a considerable lead over Newt Gingrich -- 38 percent to 29 percent.

The pre-debate poll compares to a Jan. 25 survey by Connecticut-based Quinnipiac University that showed the race in a statistical dead heat: Romney at 36 percent to Gingrich's 34 percent. The poll also had Texas Rep. Ron Paul at 14 percent, followed by former Penn. Sen. Rick Santorum at 12 percent.

The poll suggests that it's men who are changing their minds: In today's poll, men back Romney 36 percent to 29 percent, compared to backing Gingrich 37 percent to 33 percent just a few days ago. Romney continues to lead 40 percent to 30 percent among women, a number that's virtually unchanged.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has a double-digit lead over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in Saturday's South Carolina primary, according to a new poll.

Here's the release from the American Research Group, which conducted the survey Thursday and Friday:

Newt Gingrich leads the South Carolina Republican presidential primary with 40% and is followed by Mitt Romney with 26%, Ron Paul with 18%, and Rick Santorum with 13%.

Gingrich has gained 7 percentage points since the survey conducted January 17-18 and Romney has lost 6 percentage points since that survey.

Gingrich leads Romney 47% to 24% among self-identified Republicans, followed by Paul and Santorum with 14% each. Paul leads among independents and Democrats with 33%, followed by Romney with 31%, Gingrich with 18%, and Santorum with 10%.

Gingrich leads among those likely primary voters saying they are supporters of the Tea Party with 48%, followed by Romney with 19%, Santorum with 16%, and Paul with 14%. Gingrich leads with 33% among those saying they are not supporters of the Tea Party or are undecided about the Tea Party, followed by Romney with 31%, and Paul with 22%.

Gingrich leads Romney among men 38% to 25%, followed by Paul with 21%. Among women, Gingrich leads Romney 42% to 26%, followed by Paul with 16%, and Santorum with 13%.

Gingrich leads Romney 43% to 24% among likely Republican primary voters saying they will definitely vote.

Details from the survey of 600 likely Republican primary voters conducted January 19-20, 2012 can be found here.

Newt Gingrich leads the latest Clemson University Palmetto Poll by 6 percentage points over Mitt Romney, and Clemson political scientists David Woodard says Gingrich should win Saturday's primary.

Here's some of the release from the poll, taken Wednesday and Thursday:

The poll is "a sample of 429 South Carolina GOP voters who indicated they plan to vote Saturday. The telephone poll was initiated Jan. 13 and recalibrated Jan. 18-19 to measure changing dynamics. Twenty percent of the likely voters remain undecided.

“We expect a reaction by the electorate to the personal revelations about Gingrich to be registered on Saturday, however, we do not think it will be substantial enough to erase the lead Gingrich has over Romney,” said Clemson University political scientist Dave Woodard. 

“Our head-to-head matchup of the candidates has consistently shown Mitt Romney competitive. The margin for Romney has evaporated this week, and we believe that Gingrich — who led our December poll with 38 percent to Romney’s 21 percent — will win the South Carolina primary,” he said.      

Among poll respondents who had chosen or were leaning toward a candidate, this third Palmetto Poll showed Newt Gingrich (32 percent) leading the field over Mitt Romney (26 percent), up slightly from a month ago. Ron Paul came in third (11 percent), about even with his December poll rating. Rick Santorum remained in fourth place (9 percent), despite a significant jump over his ranking last month.

After choosing a candidate, respondents gave a wide variety of answers as to what they liked most about the person they selected, but the two most popular appeared to be: “he has honesty and integrity” and “his overall political ideology” — meaning conservative principles. 

“Much has been made of the ‘electability’ issue of the candidates, but in our poll the response: ‘He has the best chance of beating President Barack Obama,’” was the fourth choice of voters, after “‘He has better ideas for strengthening the economy,’” said Clemson political scientist Bruce Ransom.

The Clemson University Palmetto Poll, sponsored by the Strom Thurmond Institute, the College of Business and Behavioral Science and the Department of Public Affairs, had a plus or minus 4.73 percent margin of error.

Mitt Romney and Ron Paul, who finished 1-2 in Tuesday's New Hampshire Republican primary, were upbeat Wednesday as they criticized their critics.

"I've g ot a good start. I've got an uphill climb in South Carolina ahead of me but it could not have worked out better last night," Romney told NBC's "Today Show."

He was not pleased with the recent attacks from fellow Republicans. "I think it's something we expected to come from President Obama. We didn't expect that Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry would become the witnesses for his prosecution, if you wil," Romney said.

Paul scoffed at talk that he's not electable.

"I've been electable. I've won 12 elections already and we're doing quiet well now," the Texas congressman said.

Of his rivals, Paul added, "They're all in fourth, fifth and sixth place and they're all electable? I don't know how that adds up."

He also dismissed talk conservatives should unite around one alternative to the center-right Romney.

"Why should we coalesce behind conservatives  who aren't conservatives? I don't know why people don't understand this," Paul said.

Most of Mitt Romney's rivals have blasted him for saying he likes to fire people, a reference to his willingness to "fire" insurers who provide inadquate service.

Ron Paul has a different take on the controversy.

"Two important issues that should unite Republicans are a belief in free markets and an understanding that the media often use ‘gotcha’ tactics to discredit us.  Rather than run against Governor Romney on the issues of the day Santorum, Huntsman, and Gingrich have chosen to play along with the media elites and exploit a quote taken horribly out of context," said Jesse Benton, the Texas congressman's campaign chairman, in a statement Tuesday.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, as well as Paul and Romney, are seeking the Republican presidential nomination.

And, Benton added, the opponents are "using the language of the liberal left to attack private equity and condemn capitalism in a desperate and, frankly, unsavory attempt to tear down another Republican with tactics akin to those of MoveOn.org," a group with progressive leanings.

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