Rasmussen has Good News for Fred

Now you wouldn’t know it from the spin associated with the latest poling data released today by Rasmussen but if you actually look at the data there is a lot of good news in this for Fred Thompson.

First the spin.  In Florida latest polling has Romney at 25%, McCain at 20%, Rudy at 19%, Huckabee at 13%, Fred at 12%.  Now that’s the spin, the headline, etc.  However when you look at the rest of the data we find….

Just 54% of likely voters say they are “certain” of how they will vote. Six percent (6%) have not yet made up their mind and 12% say there’s a good chance they could change their mind.

This by itself doesn’t mean much but when you couple that with other data in the poll you start to see some of the headway Fred has been making.

Sixty-one percent (61%) of Likely Primary Voters view Thompson as politically conservative, 45% say the same about Huckabee and 43% view Romney as a conservative. Just 21% see McCain in that way while 14% see Giuliani as a conservative.

This is huge, since Iowa Fred has been making the case that he is the only consistent conservative in the field and that message is starting to resonate.  Huckabee has been trying to paint himself as suffering from Fred being in the race, trying to paint himself as conservative.  Voters in Florida aren’t buying it.

Other items of interest show that Florida voters have a good read on Rudy, and McCain as well.

Eighty-three percent (83%) see Giuliani as politically moderate or liberal and 76% say the same about McCain. Fifty percent (50%) see Huckabee as moderate or liberal and 49% hold that view of Romney.

This is telling data, for the first time voters are starting to see these candidates accurately.  Rudy and McCain are the most liberal in this campaign but with half the voters viewing Huckabee and Romney as liberal proves they have a long way to go in shedding that label.