Texas Gov. Rick Perry is polling at less than 1 percent in New Hampshire and has turned his attention to the next contest, South Carolina's primary on Jan. 21.
After a disappointing fifth-place finish in Iowa, Perry told supporters that he was returning home to Texas to reassess his bid for president. The next day he announced that he was staying in the race, a decision that came to him during a cold morning jog.
"And the next leg of the marathon is the Palmetto State... Here we come South Carolina!!!" he tweeted on Wednesday along with a photo of himself in running clothes.
While he remains optimistic he can win the conservative vote in the South, his struggling campaign and poor finish in Iowa have left some supporters looking for alternatives.
"Obviously it's not looking very good right now," said Pete Silva, a member of the governor's steering committee.
While Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich attend primary night parties in New Hampshire on Tuesday, Perry will be the only one of the six major candidates to skip the primary.
Perry's support has been falling since he surged to the top of the GOP pack for a brief time in August. A series of unforced errors including his big "oops" moment have become the hallmark of his campaign and haven't helped him in the polls.
The Polls
HuffPost's Mark Blumenthal reports:
The final release before the New Hampshire primary from Suffolk University and Boston's 7News' daily tracking poll shows continued narrowing in Mitt Romney's lead over the rest of the Republican field. Interviews conducted on Saturday and Sunday showed Romney's support falling to 33 percent, though he still leads Ron Paul (with 20 percent) by thirteen percentage points.
Romney and Paul were followed by Jon Huntsman (13 percent), Newt Gingrich (11 percent) and Rick Santorum (10 percent), Buddy Roemer (2 percent), Rick Perry (1 percent), leaving 12 percent undecided.
Read more about Perry's campaign below.
