Evangelicals Have Faith in Mike Huckabee

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee's rise in the polls for the GOP Presidential nomination I think can be equated to social/southern conservatives finally finding someone they can coalesce around. If you look at the timeline of polling data to explain Huckabee's rise in states like Iowa and South Carolina it could very well be argued that his supporters were previously leaning towards former Senator Fred Thompson as discussed by Chris Cilizza at Powerline.

Rudy Giuliani has taken the biggest nose dive in the first Southern primary state, but his campaign does not have as much invested in South Carolina as does Thompson. The latest polls from Survey USA show former Governor Huckabee with 30 percent support followed by Mitt Romney with 19 percent and Fred Thompson at eighteen percent in the Palmetto State. People like John McCain and Rudy Giuliani barely crack double digits in this same poll. To be honest with you I think the national polls are finally just starting to catch up with these state-by-state polls as more voters begin to take notice.

Huckabee has been giving interviews on many stations and seems to get glowing reviews from all the national press. In the most recent Iowa poll Huckabee leads Mitt Romney by a 27 to 24 percentage also according to Strategic Vision via the Political Wire. Governor Huckabee has also picked up key endorsements from the key February 5th state of Florida such as Speaker of the House Marco Rubio as reported by the Miami Herald.

Rubio is a leader in the Cuban American community which is a group that Huckabee can appeal to with his social conservative views on things like euthanasia, abortion and gay marriage. Huckabee did face some criticism from some fiercely anti-Castro factions for saying that some of portions of the Cuban embargo could be lifted. In Florida though a recent poll still arranged by the Saint Petersburg Times and Miami Herald showed Rudy Giuliani with a commanding lead in the Sunshine State with thirty six percent of the vote to Mitt Romney's nineteen percent. Huckabee only has nine percent there currently so name recognition is sorely needed.