Rudy Giuliani Takes Strong Lead

The latest USA Today/Gallup poll has Rudy Giuliani in a commanding lead over nearest rival, John McCain as preferred Republican nominee.

The poll of 424 Republican and Republican leaning voters between 2 and 4 March, Giuliani was preferred by 44% of those surveyed, compared with just 20% for John McCain. This is an increase from Giuliani's 40% in the same February poll, and he has been tracking up since November, which had him at 28%, just 2 points ahead of McCain.

Newt Gingrich came in third in the poll on 9%, with Mitt Romney increasing his rating from 5% in February to 8% in the latest poll.

Giuliani's favorable rating has dropped 2 points, but is still a massive 64%, with only 21% of those surveyed having an unfavorable opinion of him.