ANALYSIS | If the Feb. 1-2 survey by Public Policy Polling is any indication, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is set to claim his most decisive GOP nomination victory yet. As reported by PPP on Friday, Romney has a 2-to-1 lead over his second place contender, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. The results of the survey, conducted among 937 likely Republican Nevada caucus voters, showed Romney taking 50 percent to Gingrich's 25 percent. Texas Rep. Ron Paul placed third with 15 percent and former Pennsylvania Rep. Rick Santorum pulled 8 percent of voter support.
Romney has already won both the New Hampshire and Florida primaries. Gingrich won South Carolina and -- through a late recount upset -- Romney's Iowa win was given to Santorum.
As tallied by the Wall Street Journal's GOP Delegate Tracker, Romney leads with 87, Gingrich stands second with 26, Santorum pulls third with 14 and Paul sits in the back seat with four.
To the question of which candidate Nevada caucus goers think stands the best chance of defeating Barack Obama in the general election, Romney took 56 percent of the vote. Gingrich claimed 21 percent of the confidence nod leaving Paul with 9 percent and Santorum with 5 percent.
Regarding favorability of each candidate, Romney and Santorum are Nevada favorites with Gingrich and Paul pulling negative numbers. When asked if they have a favorable or unfavorable opinion, Nevada's caucus goers gave Romney an impressive 70 percent thumbs up with only 25 percent giving him thumbs down. Santorum received a 64 percent favorability rating with 23 percent viewing him unfavorably.
"Mitt Romney is headed for a big win in Nevada on Saturday," Reuters quoted Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling saying Friday. "He's winning with virtually every demographic group we track."
The problem for Gingrich, which clearly explains his distance second place to Romney, is that Nevada voters simply don't like him. Only 41 percent gave him a favorable nod with 49 percent holding their nose. Paul fared a bit better with 45 percent viewing him favorability and 46 percent maintaining an unfavorable opinion.
"It looks like Paul will be able to build on his 14 percent showing in Nevada in 2008," PPP concluded of the survey, "but catching up to Gingrich for second place appears unlikely."
The survey commissioned by the Las Vegas Review-Journal and 8NewsNow released Friday showed similar results. Romney placed first with 45 percent of the supports among Nevada Republicans. Gingrich was given 25 percent backing with Santorum edging out Paul for third with 11 percent and 9 percent respectively.
Nevada has 28 delegates up for grabs. "But with the delegates awarded proportionally and complicated rules dictating how the delegates are meted out," wrote Seema Mehta of the Los Angeles Times on Saturday, "every vote counts."
While Hillary Clinton won Nevada's popular vote during the 2008 Democratic caucuses, Obama received more delegates. With four candidates still vying for the GOP nomination in Nevada's 2012 caucuses, each of them are fighting for a much thinner slice of Nevada's delegate pie.
While the election results from 16 of Nevada's 17 counties are scheduled to be released at 5 p.m. on Saturday evening, what happens in Clark County - home of Fabulous Las Vegas and over half of the state's registered Republican voters - will stay in Clark County until after 7 p.m.
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