By Dave Andrusko
Pro-Life former Massachussets Gov. Mitt Romney
Tonight is the last debate before the February 28 Republican presidential primary. Unlike Michigan, where former Gov. Mitt Romney and former Senator Rick Santorum are a hair’s breath apart, most Arizona polling shows Romney with a hefty lead.
Rick Santorum
Real Clear Politics, which compiles all the polling data in one place, shows Romney with an average lead of 8.2 points in Arizona. Just yesterday a CNN/Time/ORC International poll had Romney at 36%, Santorum at 32%, former Speaker Newt Gingrich at 18% and Rep. Ron Paul at 6%. The four-point advantage is within the survey’s sampling error. However a NBC News/Marist survey poll released this afternoon showed Romney up by 16 points—43% to 27%.
Pro-Abortion President Barack Obama
In Michigan, the five most recent polls show Santorum up by less than one point. In 2008 Romney bested rival Sen. John McCain , 38.9% to 29.6 %.
For the moment, pro-abortion President Barack Obama has a lead of 5.7 points (an average of the eight most recent polls) over Gov. Romney. His lead (an average of seven polls) over Sen. Santorum is 6.4 points.