Winthrop Poll: Perry, Romney far ahead of field

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A new poll shows a close race between Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in South Carolina’s key first-in-the-South presidential primary.

The Winthrop Poll released Tuesday shows Perry was the first choice among 30 percent of Republican voters, with 27 percent choosing Romney. That’s within the poll’s 4 percentage-point margin of error for the 596 GOP or Republican-leaning voters called between Sept. 11 and Sept. 18.

The poll showed 12 percent of the Republicans surveyed were undecided.

Businessman Herman Cain had 7 percent, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin 6 percent and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich 5 percent. Tea party favorites and Reps. Michelle Bachmann and Ron Paul were at 4 percent.