South Carolina GOP Primary Results

With 93% of the precincts reporting, John McCain has won the South Carolina Republican Primary with 33% of the votes to Mike Huckabee's 30%, Fred Thompson finished in third with 16%, and Mitt Romney, who had won the Nevada Caucus earlier in the day, received 15% of the vote. Ron Paul and Rudy Giuliani finished out the field with 4% and 2%, respectively. Duncan Hunter who would have finished in last, had dropped out the race earlier in the day. With his victory, McCain won his second state to Romney's three and Huckabee's one. Since 1980, the eventual Republican nominee for President has won the South Carolina Primary. However, a South Carolina victory tonight, although helpful, did not make McCain a clear front-runner. A review of the exit polls compiled by CNN shows that the results in South Carolina may not be indicative of future primaries and Super Tuesday is still wide open.

By reason of victory, John McCain benefited the most from the Primary. After losing big to George W. Bush here in 2000, his victory could be deemed as a comeback. His momentum from New Hampshire continues as he has won two of the last three contests. Still questions remain. As in New Hampshire, much of McCain's support came from those registered as Independents, which he received 42% to Huckabee's 25%. Among registered Republicans, Huckabee received 32% to McCain's 31%, with Romney a distant third with 15%. Many states do not allow Independents to vote in either major party's primary. This will hurt McCain in those states as he will not be able to rely on their support. However, this does not mean Huckabee and McCain will split the Republican vote in the Super Tuesday states. Huckabee won the Evangelical vote by 43% to McCain's 27%, and Evangelicals make up a large number of Republicans in South Carolina. Similar to McCain not being able to rely on Independents' support in many states, Huckabee will not be able to rely on Evangelicals to achieve victory in many states.