Polls show Giuliani, Huckabee in dead heat
BY CRAIG GORDON
WASHINGTON - Two new polls Monday showed former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has fallen into a statistical tie with a surging Mike Huckabee.The surveys suggest an end to Giuliani's yearlong domination of the Republican presidential polls.Giuliani had kept a solid but shrinking hold on first place in recent polls but two new national surveys -- by CNN and The New York Times -- show Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, has pulled into a dead heat despite languishing far back in the race most of the year.
The latest CNN-Opinion Research poll shows Giuliani and Huckabee effectively tied for the top spot nationally, with 24 percent of Republican voters supporting Giuliani to 22 percent for Huckabee.Just last month in the same survey, Giuliani had 28 percent and Huckabee 10 percent. By clear margins in the new poll, Giuliani still is seen as the most electable GOP candidate but Huckabee is now even with him as best representing Republicans' views.
The CNN results were backed up by the Times/CBS News poll, which found 22 percent of voters picked Giuliani to 21 percent for Huckabee, with 16 percent for Mitt Romney.
In both surveys, the Giuliani-Huckabee matchup was well within the polls' margins of error -- meaning the results amount to a mathematical tie.The polls suggest social conservatives, uneasy about Giuliani's moderate stances all year, are deciding that Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister who opposes abortion, deserves their vote.
Newsday: CNN & NY Times Polls Show Huckabee and Giuliani Statistically Tied as Frontrunners!
