State Senator Vincent Sheheen has now opened a modest lead over two other hopefuls in the Democratic Primary contest for governor of South Carolina with less than three weeks to go. But nearly one-out-of-three primary voters remain undecided.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Democratic Primary Voters in South Carolina finds Sheheen with 30% support, closely followed by State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex with 22%. State Senator Robert Ford trails with four percent (4%) of the vote.

Twelve percent (12%) prefer some other candidate in the race, with another 32% undecided.

In March in Rasmussen Reports’ only previous survey of the primary race, Sheheen and Rex were tied at 16% apiece, with Ford at 12%. Thirty-seven percent (37%) were undecided at that time.

State Representative Nikki Haley, fresh off an endorsement by Sarah Palin, has jumped ahead of three other contenders in the state’s Republican Primary race for governor.

Both parties will pick their nominees in June 8 primaries. If no candidate captures 50% of the vote, a run-off between the top two vote getters will be held two weeks later on June 22. At this juncture, run-offs seem likely for both parties.

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The survey of 404 Likely Democratic Primary Voters in South Carolina was conducted on May 17, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Sheheen appears to be benefiting from his television advertising in the state, while Rex is the only Democrat who currently holds a statewide office.

Ford is viewed Very Favorably by four percent (4%) of Likely Democratic Primary Voters and Very Unfavorably by four percent (4%) as well. But 46% still don’t know enough about him to venture any kind of opinion.

For Rex, Very Favorables are 15% and Very Unfavorables five percent (5%). Thirty-six percent (36%) have no opinion of him.

Twenty-two percent (22%) regard Sheheen Very Favorably, while five percent (5%) see him Very Unfavorably. But again, with 40% expressing no opinion, he remains an unknown to many potential primary voters.

That’s one reason why at this point in a campaign, Rasmussen Reports considers the number of people with strong opinions more significant than the total favorable/unfavorable numbers.

Sixty-three percent (63%) of these primary voters oppose repeal of the recently-passed national health care bill, while just 30% favor repeal.

Among Likely Republican Primary Voters in the state, 88% favor repeal of the bill. Nationally, among all voters, 56% favor repeal.

Only 26% of South Carolina Democratic Primary Voters support passage of an immigration law like Arizona’s in their state. Forty-seven percent (47%) oppose such a law, but 27% more are not sure.

Eighty-three percent (83%) of South Carolina’s GOP voters favor passage of a law like Arizona’s. Fifty-five percent (55%) of all voters nationwide favor passage of such a law in their state.

Eighty-seven percent (87%) of Palmetto State Democratic voters approve of the job President Obama is doing, while only 13% disapprove.

But just 24% like the job Republican Govenor Mark Sanford is doing. Seventy-two percent (72%) disapprove of Sanford’s performance.

Rasmussen Reports also has released recent polls on the 2010 governor's races in Wisconsin, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Vermont.

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