New Polls: Perry Lags in South Carolina

Governor Rick Perry’s presidential campaign bet big on Iowa, spending $4.5 million on media but netting a mere 12,442 votes. Undeterred by his fifth place finish, Perry is now looking to double-down in South Carolina. But three new polls suggest the odds are not good.

Perry is polling at five percent in the CNN/TIME/ORC poll of likely primary voters. They were surveyed Wednesday and Thursday, after the Iowa caucuses.

Meanwhile, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s support has surged to 37 percent, almost doubling since December. Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum is at 19 percent. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is at 18 percent in the survey.

A separate poll released today by Rasmussen also puts Perry in fifth place with five percent support. And Public Policy Polling, set to release a new survey soon, posted on Twitter that it will also find Perry in fifth place.

Perry still has between $3 million and $5 million in his war chest, according to the Texas Tribune.  And he’ll have a chance to win (or lose) voters this weekend with not one, but two major nationally televised debates.

The first debate is Saturday night from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. CST at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire. It’s sponsored by ABC News, Yahoo! News and WMUR-TV. The second debate is Sunday morning at 8 a.m. It’s sponsored by NBC and Facebook and will be streamed at MSNBC.com. KUT's Ben Philpott will cover both, so check back for details.