Poll: Mitt Romney Deemed Most Conservative Republican

It was not too long ago, if you asked the Republican voters who the most conservative candidate is, you would have had a majority of the respondents say it was Fred Thompson. Well, the voters' perception of the candidates ideology has changed and the one they see as most conservative now is former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. And former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is not far behind.

These are the results from the latest Rasmussen Reports survey that shows 46% of the respondents who are Republicans say Romney is the most conservative. Last month, his figure was 36%. One curious fact is that the percentage of voters who now think Thompson is the most conservative, 40%, is 11% lower than it was last month, almost the exact percentage of increase that there was in Romeny's figures. Another 34% of the Republicans see Thompson as moderate and 3% think if him as a liberal. This is having a big impact on the Thompson campaign, because his overall support in the election polls is declining at the same time.

Huckabee is now considered to be the most conservative candidate by 38% of the voters. Then there are 20% who look at him as a moderate and 6% think of him as a liberal.

One factor that Huckabee has to contend with that the other two do not is that there is a high percentage, even at this rather late point in the primary campaign, who say they do not know enough about him to be able to give an opinion at 36%. With those who do know enough about him to give their opinion, 59% think of him as being conservative, but not necessarily the most conservative. This is actually 1% higher than the number who view Romney as at least somewhat conservative.

Arizona Senator John Mc Cain is holding pretty steady in this respect, with 30% of the Republicans seeing him as conservative, and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is staying at the same rate too, with 27%. Even though he is not considered the most conservative in a political party where being conservative is perceived to be important, Giuliani is leading in the national polls and is also considered to be the most electable of the Republican Candidates.