South Carolina primary exit polls: 2/3rds say debates mattered
AP Photo/David Goldman
Nearly two out of three South Carolina Republican primary voters say the recent Republican presidential debates played an important factor in their decision, according to early CBS News exit polls - a good sign for Newt Gingrich, who was widely seen as outshining rival Mitt Romney in both debates there this week.
Sixty-four percent said the debates were an important factor for them; just 34 percent said they were not. Gingrich won standing ovations in both debates while Romney often struggled - and at one point received a smattering of boos for equivocating over how many years of his tax returns he would release.
Gingrich, who polls suggest overtook Romney in the final days before today's primary, is hoping for a victory that would keep Romney from locking up the nomination before the end of the month. A majority of voters - 53 percent - said they made up their mind about who to back within the last few days.
The exit poll data showed that South Carolina voters overwhelmingly cited the economy as the most important issue, with 61 percent citing it. (The economy was the top issue in Iowa and New Hampshire as well.) It was followed by the federal budget deficit (23 percent), abortion (8 percent) and health care (4 percent). Seventy-eight percent of voters in South Carolina, where the unemployment rate is 9.9 percent, said they are "very" worried about the nation's economy.
As in Iowa and New Hampshire, South Carolina Republican voters cited electability as the most important quality in a candidate. Forty-five percent say it's most important that they have a candidate who can defeat Barack Obama in a general election, while 21 percent are most concerned someone with the right experience, 17 percent they have strong character, and 14 percent they are a true conservative.
Asked which candidate ran the most unfair campaign, 30 percent pointed to Romney, 26 percent to Gingrich and 14 percent to Ron Paul.
CBS News will release full exit poll data when the polls close at 7:00 p.m. Eastern
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SUCKERS!
Who bases their vote on what's said in a terribly 'moderated' debate....where irrelavent, rhetorical questions are the theme?
Voting based on what is said in the debates versus voting on the candidates' historical record....hmm.... which is more intelligent?
That's pathetic. "I voted for Newt because he was well-spoken" ....and so is Obama! Why not vote for the guy whose record is unwavering, whose consistency is unmatched, whose interest lies with the American people rather than government and corporations?
Why not support Ron Paul?!
You can't expect them (or most other Americans to remember the 8 year reign of terror of the Bush Crime Family. But these Republicons have a special problem, they are backing a party whose ideas have been a tragic and dismal failure for over 30 years.
America please wake up! Debates show only snippets of what candidates stand for. Gingrich won because he told voters what they wanted to hear - not what he actually stands for. He is someone of low integrity based on his ethics violation as speaker of the house and flip-flopping on issues. It's a sad state of affairs when voters make their decision on their candidate by spending an hour and a half watching a debate rather than doing actual research to find out what their candidate stands for. I just don't believe that American citizens actually want big government taking away our personal freedoms and destroying the economy. How are record home foreclosures a sign that the economy is improving? People don't understand that the unemployment rate is actually around 20% rather than the 10% that the media tells you.
COLUMBIA, S.C. - South Carolina's attorney general has notified the U.S. Justice Department of potential voter fraud.
The article clearly states that 45% of voters said that choosing the candidate that best stands to beat Obama is their number one priority. Now, Gingrich has been at the bottom of all the polls on a head to head race against Obama, sometimes sharing that dubious position with Santorum. The reason is simple: Romney and Paul can get some of the democratic vote, and much of the independent vote. Gingrich/Santorum would get virtually none of those votes, and even some republicans wouldn't vote for Gingrich/Santorum.
So, if Gingrich wins this, there is a serious disconnect going on, which suggests that the S. Carolina voters are either getting false info, or that they don't perform any due diligence in finding out some facts for themselves.