South Carolina GOPUSA Exclusive reprinted here by permission.

SPARTANBURG, SC (SC GOPUSA) -- A new poll released on Wednesday regarding the U.S. Senate race in South Carolina finds some surprising results with less than seven weeks until the Republican primary.

Verona, NJ-based SurveyUSA finds that former South Carolina Gov. David Beasley has the highest favorable rating overall among the six GOP U.S. Senate candidates, followed by Charleston businessman Thomas Ravenel in second and U.S. Rep. Jim DeMint in third.

Beasley received a 42 percent favorable rating, Ravenel got 31 percent and DeMint earned 29 percent.

Among the remaining candidates, former South Carolina Attorney General Charlie Condon came in with 24 percent, while relatively unknown candidates Myrtle Beach mayor Mark McBride and businesswoman Orly Benny Davis produced 13 percent and 5 percent respectively.

As for unfavorable ratings, Condon received the highest overall with 32 percent, Beasley was second with 23 percent and Davis was third with 22 percent.

Ravenel came in fourth with 19 percent, DeMint fifth at 17 percent and McBride last with 16 percent.

When the poll was broken down into segments separating Republican and Democratic voters, the results were equally intriguing.

With the favorable rating among Republican voters, Beasley ranked first with 53 percent and DeMint came in second with 41 percent.

Ravenel and Condon were duking it out for third among Republican voters with 34 percent and 33 percent respectively.

McBride netted 13 percent and Davis a mere 4 percent.

As for the unfavorable rating among Republican voters, Condon came out on top with 26 percent, Davis in second with 20 percent and Beasley in third with 17 percent.

Ravenel was next with 15 percent followed by McBride at 13 percent and DeMint at 12 percent among GOP voters.

Looking at Democratic voter impressions of the Republican candidates for U.S. Senate, Beasley led the pack in favorable rating.

Beasley received 28 percent of the Democratic vote, Ravenel came in second with 25 percent and DeMint in third with 20 percent.

Among the remaining candidates, Condon snagged 10 percent, McBride compiled 9 percent and Davis got 5 percent.

As for unfavorable ratings among Democratic voters, Condon was the top dog by far with 38 percent seeing him in a negative light.

Beasley was second with 30 percent and Davis was next with 25 percent.

Ravenel came in with 23 percent followed by DeMint and McBride tied with 18 percent each.

The SurveyUSA poll of 547 registered voters was conducted on April 20, 2004 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percent.