(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-12-27 22:04

"There are many shades of gray" on issues, said Pontarelli, 30, a consultant from Downers Grove, Ill. "The way she responded took a lot of guts."

No one in the GOP had a rougher ride in the past month than Thompson, the former Tennessee senator who joined the race in September and has slowly fizzled ever since. This month's poll showed he retained just over half of those who supported him in November, compared with six in 10 by Giuliani, Romney and John McCain and three in four by Huckabee.

While each candidate also picked up fresh supporters, Giuliani and Thompson saw their overall strength droop, with Giuliani losing the most. Huckabee's support rose, while McCain and Romney stayed about the same.

Millicent Muller of Farmville, N.C., moved from Giuliani's camp to Romney's.

"I don't care if he's a Mormon," said Muller, 53, a homemaker, though some voters say that makes them reluctant to support the one-time Massachusetts governor. "The cheap shots at it offended me, and made me take a closer look at him. I don't see anything wrong with him."

Religion has played a pivotal role in Huckabee's rise, though in a more textured way than many polls have shown.

Roughly four in 10 white evangelical Christians have made a change since November, similar to other Republicans who shifted candidates. But 56 percent of evangelicals who found another candidate flocked to Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister, giving him 36 percent of the support of one of the GOP's heavyweight voting blocs, well ahead of his rivals.

The intensely religious were even more restless - and more smitten with Huckabee. Among evangelicals who are conservative and attend church weekly, 54 percent switched candidates last month - and 61 percent of the switchers moved to Huckabee.

"He believes in what I believe in. I'm a Christian," said truck driver Jerry Steadman, 53, of Inman, S.C.

Yet even Huckabee is not immune to voters' evolving tastes - 83 percent who moved to him said they were open to changing again.

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