Poll: Voters still sampling candidates

While each candidate also picked up fresh supporters, Giuliani and Thompson saw their overall strength droop, with Giuliani losing the most. Huckabee's support rose, while McCain and Romney stayed about the same.

Millicent Muller of Farmville, N.C., moved from Giuliani's camp to Romney's.

"I don't care if he's a Mormon," said Muller, 53, a homemaker, though some voters say that makes them reluctant to support the one-time Massachusetts governor. "The cheap shots at it offended me, and made me take a closer look at him. I don't see anything wrong with him."

Religion has played a pivotal role in Huckabee's rise, though in a more textured way than many polls have shown.

Roughly four in 10 white evangelical Christians have made a change since November, similar to other Republicans who shifted candidates. But 56 percent of evangelicals who found another candidate flocked to Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister, giving him 36 percent of the support of one of the GOP's heavyweight voting blocs, well ahead of his rivals.

Previous NBC/WSJ polls (pdf files) Oct. 27, 2009 July 29, 2009 June 17, 2009 April 28, 2009 March 3, 2009 Jan. 14, 2009 Dec. 10, 2008 Nov. 3, 2008 Oct. 21, 2008 Oct. 6, 2008 Sept. 24, 2008 Sept. 9, 2008 Aug. 20, 2008 July 23, 2008 June 11, 2008 April 30, 2008 March 12, 2008 Jan. 24, 2008 More polls

The intensely religious were even more restless _ and more smitten with Huckabee. Among evangelicals who are conservative and attend church weekly, 54 percent switched candidates last month _ and 61 percent of the switchers moved to Huckabee.

"He believes in what I believe in. I'm a Christian," said truck driver Jerry Steadman, 53, of Inman, S.C.

Yet even Huckabee is not immune to voters' evolving tastes -- 83 percent who moved to him said they were open to changing again.

Though the poll shows little relationship between shifting voters and the issues they consider important, many who left Giuliani put more importance on political corruption than those who still support him. Bernard Kerik, Giuliani's former police commissioner, has pleaded not guilty to federal corruption charges.

Slide show   It all begins in Iowa Scenes from the state where the voters get first say in deciding who each party should run as its presidential candidate. more photos

Among Democrats, Clinton's large lead over Obama and John Edwards changed little, though polls on Iowa's Jan. 3 caucuses -- the nation's first voting -- show them in a three-way battle there.

Nationally, six in 10 Obama supporters now say they are sure to stay with him, a gain from last month and the same as for Clinton. Edwards' certain supporters doubled, but only to just more than four in 10.

"She's kind of harsh," Linda Beerhorst, 56, a notary from Osceola, Ind., said of Clinton, whom she has abandoned for Obama. "He doesn't talk like a politician, he talks like your next-door neighbor."

Among Democrats, men were slightly likelier to switch than women, while middle-aged Republicans changed more often than younger or older ones.

The survey of 1,821 adults was conducted from Dec. 14-20, and had an overall margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points. Included were interviews with 847 Democrats, for whom the margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3.4 points, and 655 Republicans, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.8 points.

The poll was conducted over the Internet by Knowledge Networks, which initially contacted people using traditional telephone polling methods and followed with online interviews. People chosen for the study who had no Internet access were given it for free.

MSNBC/McClatchy/Mason-Dixon polls 3/3/2008 OH-Dem | TX-Dem 2/3/2008 AZ-Dem | CA-Dem | CA-Rep | GA-Dem | MO-Dem | MO_Rep | NJ-Dem | NJ-Rep 1/24/2008 SC-Dem | FL-Dem & GOP 12/30/2007 IA-Dem | IA-GOP 12/2/2007: IA-Dem | IA-GOP | NH-Dem | NH-GOP | SC-Dem | SC-GOP

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