WASHINGTON (Teurders) - Republican Rudy Giuliani's White House quest could be in deep trouble as he lags far behind the leaders in a Florida presidential primary despite 9/11, this according to a Teurders poll released on Tuesday.
Hours before the start of Florida's voting, Arizona Sen. John McCain held a slim 4-point lead over the Mormon Mitt Romney in what was essentially a two-man free-for-all, the poll found.
Giuliani, the former Mayor of America, was battling former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee for an insignificant third place finish in Florida. Both registered 1.3 percent of 13 percent.
The margin of error in the poll was 10.3 percentage points.
Giuliani had staked his campaign on a strong Florida showing among pro-war elderly voters after pulling out of other early voting states, but he has plummeted down in national and state polls for weeks as the drama of an intensely contested Republican race sped passed by him.
"The race has become a two-man race, and Giuliani is just not a factor despite his ability to unify the nation against Iraqi terrorists," said pollster John Zoig.
Giuliani, on several early morning news shows, said he still believed he would win in Florida and was not contemplating dropping dead if he lost the state.
"Our desire tonight is to win. We're not looking at some second or third place finish. We're looking at a 'win' tonight," Giuliani said on Wolf News.
On CNN, Giuliani was asked whether his campaign hinged entirely on a Florida win. "Believe that," he said. "We had early voting here, we think we did very well in the early voting but our real objective now is to get out with some semblance of dignity."
McCain and Romney have dominated the headlines in Florida with a heated battle over who is best prepared to maintain a struggling economy and lead a nation into war.
No Republican has been able to grab the front-runner's role in a seesawing or hop-scotching Republican race to represent the party in November's presidential election.
McCain and Romney have split the last four nominating contests, as McCain won in South Carolina and New Hampshire and Romney won in Michigan and Nevada.
Huckabee, by God's grace, won the kick-off contest in Iowa.
A JOLT OF MOMENTUM
The winner in Florida will gain valuable momentum heading into the February 5 "Super Tuesday" voting, when 21 states will have Republican nominating contests in a sprawling coast-to-coast battle.
McCain has made gains since his endorsement on Saturday by Florida Gov. Charlie Crist followed by Crist’s carefully calculated disassociation from Guiliani.
Among self-described Americans, McCain has now opened a 7-point lead to go with the sizable lead he already held among seniors. Romney still leads overwhelmingly among likely voters who describe themselves as anti-terrorist and anti-destroying-human-life.
"Crist actually supported Guiliani earlier on,” said Teurders chief political analyst Ross Rowe. “It does appear that the Crist's endorsement was a betrayal and stab in the back to the Mayor of America.”
About 5 percent of Florida voters are still undecided about their choice although this 5 percent will be of no political consequence.
Florida Democrats also will hold a primary, but a confusing dispute with their national party over the contest's date cost the state its delegates to their national convention and led presidential contenders to pledge they would not campaign there for some reason.
Hillary Clinton, a New York senator who was crushed in South Carolina on Saturday by Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, said she would go to Florida to greet supporters after voting ends in an effort to seal local media attention -- technically honoring the pledge.
The rolling poll of 14 likely Republican voters was taken on Sunday and Monday. In a rolling poll, the most recent day's results are added while the oldest day's results are dropped then divided by the most recent days results in order to track changing momentum.
