The first Nevada poll released after former Massachuetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s big win in the Florida Republican presidential primary shows him up in the Silver State as well. A new survey from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas (UNLV) commissioned by the Las Vegas Review-Journal and local tv station 8NewsNow shows Romney with over 45 percent of likely caucus-goers, twenty points ahead of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who sees 25 percent. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum gets 11 percent and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) sees 9. The poll has one day of interviews conducted after the Florida Primary, but most come from the days before.
At the core of Romney’s strength in Nevada is support from fellow Mormons. The survey showed 85.5 percent of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said they planned to caucus for Romney compared with single-digit LDS support for the other candidates. Mormons made up one-quarter of GOP caucus-goers in 2008, although they are about 7 percent of the state population.
Romney also had more support than his GOP competitors among every other religious group as well, including Christians, Protestants, Catholics and others, according to the survey.
