Is Huck Really Hurting Romney?

Not according to the latest USA/Gallup poll:

McCain wins over Romney as the second choice of Huckabee voters by more than a 2 to 1 margin, 64% to 28%. Indeed, McCain beats Romney 42% to 24% with Huckabee in the race (Huckabee gets 18% of the vote, Ron Paul gets 5%, and Alan Keyes gets 2%). With a narrowed-down ballot focused just on McCain and Romney (forcing Huckabee voters to choose between the two front-runners), McCain wins 53% to 30% -- a slightly expanded margin.

I am surprised. Must be a residual anti-Mormon vote out there, particularly in the South. Or maybe people just don't like Mitt Romney.

Romney beat Huck in Grand Rapids and surrounding counties in western Michigan, where I lived for a few years. That area is heavily dominated by conservative Christians, but of a somewhat different stripe than those in the South. West Michigan is CRC territory -- the Christian Reformed Church -- which has roots in Dutch Calvinism.

As a Catholic, I don't pretend to understand all the differences between Michigan CRC'ers and Southern evangelicals, but perhaps their relative attitudes toward Mormons is one such difference.

Via the Weekly Standard's campaign blog.