Sunshine State News Poll: Stakes Are High for Thursday's Debate

With the Republican Presidential Preference Primary looming on Tuesday, the stakes are high for both Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich for Thursday nights debate at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, according to a Sunshine State News poll.

The poll, which was conducted by Harrisburg, Pa.-based Voter Survey Service (VSS), finds that Florida Republicans have been tuning in to the procession of debates between the Republican presidential hopefuls with 85 percent of them having watched at least one. Fifty-five percent say the debates have influenced their vote.

The movement for Gingrich has clearly come from the televised debates, James Lee, the president of VSS, told Sunshine State News on Thursday.Among those who say the debates have influenced their opinions, Gingrich leads with 42 percent of the vote while Romney is at 33 percent, Rick Santorum 12 percent and Ron Paul 8 percent. In comparison, among those who say they have not been influenced by the televised debates, Romney has a commanding lead at 50 percent, far ahead of the second-place challenger -- Gingrich at 19 percent. This says to me that tonights final debate performance could be pivotal if Newt is the perceived winner.

Lee said the debates played a greater role than televised ads in shaping the views of Florida Republicans.

Its also interesting to note that, despite Romneys dominance of the paid TV wars -- at least until recently, when Gingrich got an infusion of late money -- only 15 percent say they have been influenced by the ads they have seen, Lee noted. This means either people already had their minds made up to support Romney, or that the ads are simply ineffective. Nonetheless, youd have to wonder if businessman Romney is happy with this return on investment when its clear from the poll that the televised debates are the only thing moving the numbers -- and not in his direction.

Keep an eye on Sunshine State News, which will unveil the full poll on Friday morning.