Poll Confirms Santorum Surge to Second Behind Gingrich; 35% Gingrich, 26% Santorum, 16% Romney

Written by Landmark Communications

A poll of 1,475 Georgia Republican voters released Friday morning by Landmark Communications and Rosetta Stone Communications confirms a surge to second place by former Senator Rick Santorum in the Georgia Presidential Preference election.

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, who represented a Georgia district in Congress, leads the field with 35%. Santorum has moved to second place with 26% in Georgia in the wake of his resounding "hat trick" series of three wins this week in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado.

"Gingrich leads, and the fight seems for now to have become a battle for second place," said Mark Rountree, President of Landmark Communications, Inc. "The race remains volatile."

"Voter preferences continue to be fluid," said John Garst, President of Rosetta Stone Communications, LLC. "The question is whether Santorum's surge can hold until Super Tuesday, or whether it's just reflecting the news week."

Landmark Communications and Rosetta Stone Communications are political firms based in Atlanta, Georgia. The firms regularly conduct and release public opinion surveys regarding politics. The firms jointly conducted the poll.

Landmark Communications can be found at http://landmarkcommunications.net

Rosetta Stone Communications can be found at
www.politicalecalling.com

METHODOLOGY

The poll was conducted Thursday, February 9, 2012 of 1,475 voters who voted in either the 2008 Republican Presidential Preference Primary, or the 2010 Republican General Primary Election. The poll results reflect only those respondents who stated that they intend to vote in the 2012 Republican Presidential Primary. The poll was conducted by telephone using IVR technology. The margin of error on the survey is 2.55%.

The sample was randomly drawn from Republican Primary voters originally made available from the Office of the Secretary of State of Georgia. To be consistent with previous and projected voter turnout, the sample is stratified based on race, age, and gender.