Carson, Cruz, Walker ready for key South Carolina test

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Washington Examiner:

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Jeff Duncan, the popular and very conservative representative from South Carolina's 3rd Congressional District, has never had three presidential candidates appear at his annual Faith and Freedom Barbecue. But tonight, at the Civic Center in Anderson, S.C., he's welcoming Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, and Scott Walker -- and fueling a lot of speculation about who has the best chance to win South Carolina's first-in-the-South primary.

 

Who's leading the race right now? Donald Trump, just like everywhere else. But South Carolina, for a variety of reasons, has a paucity of polling compared to Iowa and New Hampshire. The last poll was taken about three weeks ago, and there haven't been very many surveys all summer.

 

For example, there have been 10 polls of Iowa Republicans taken since June 1, according to the RealClearPolitics average of polls. There have been nine in New Hampshire. But there have been just four in South Carolina in the same period. "The national press interest in Iowa and New Hampshire, and the national polls, have the effect of keeping the later states quiet," says Clemson political scientist David Woodard, who conducts the respected Palmetto Poll. But South Carolina's role in the primary season is "crucial," Woodard says, because "South Carolina is arguably the first 'red' primary state (Iowa and New Hampshire are in play each fall) and because Romney won no southern primaries four years ago."