ARG Poll has Ron Paul Rising in S.C. while Rick Santorum Fades

With little more than a week until South Carolina Republicans vote in their presidential primary, former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts leads the pack of GOP hopefuls according to a poll from American Research Group released on Friday.

Romney leads in the Palmetto State with 29 percent while former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich takes second with 25 percent and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul places third with 20 percent. Texas Gov. Rick Perry places fourth with 9 percent while former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania takes fifth with 7 percent. Former Gov. Jon Hunsman of Utah takes sixth place with 1 percent of the vote.

Gingrich leads with evangelical voters and tea party supporters. Compared to an American Research Group poll of South Carolina taken last week, Santorum is dropping in the Palmetto State while Paul is on the rise there. In that poll, Santorum took 24 percent and Paul 9 percent.

The poll of 600 likely South Carolina primary voters was taken on Jan. 11-12 and had a margin of error of +/- 4 percent.