Polls: Giuliani slipping in "crucial" state

Two new polls appear to show Republican Rudy Giuliani slipping in Florida, a state he once called "crucial" to his presidential chances.

In a survey conducted for the Miami Herald and the St. Petersburg Times, the former New York mayor only registers 15 percent among Republican primary voters. That puts him in a tie with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who has spent little time in the state and has only a fraction of the organization Giuliani has there.

John McCain and Mitt Romney are statistically tied for the top spot in the poll — McCain's at 25 percent and Romney's at 23 percent.
Giuliani also finds himself in third place spot in a new American Research Group poll with 16 percent, a statistical tie with Mike Huckabee's 17 percent. John McCain is on top with 29 percent and Mitt Romney is second with 22 percent.

Speaking on CNN's The Situation Room Wednesday, Giuliani maintained he would win the state next Tuesday, and said his strategy of focusing exclusively on Florida over the last month will prove to be the right one.

"We are going to win in Florida, then we will be talking about exactly who made the right decisions," he said. "That's really, I am an optimist about the way you govern and an optimist about the way you run a campaign. That's the way I look at it."

In an interview Tuesday, Giuliani had appeared to downplay his focus on the state, telling an interviewer that the state would be an “important win,” but that “I don’t think any candidate ever puts himself in a corner and says, must win, have to win, must win.’’
The Miami Herald/St. Petersburg Times poll carries a margin of error of plus or minus 5.1 percent, while the ARG poll's margin of error is plus or minus four percentage points. Both were conducted January 20-22.
Source: CNN News