State Rep. Tim Scott is the frontrunner in the Republican primary in the open Charleston-area 1st district, according to a poll conducted for the Club for Growth, which is backing Scott.

National Research Inc. asked 300 likely primary voters for their preferences. Scott got 30 percent, businessman Carroll Campbell III won 10 percent, and Charleston County Commissioner Paul Thurmond and accountant Clark Parker got 9 percent each.

Larry Kobrovsky, a former member of the Charleston County School Board, polled at 8 percent, and four other candidates were preferred by 2 percent to 6 percent of those surveyed.

The survey was conducted May 23-24. Its margin of error was 5.6 points.

Though the poll put Scott first, a candidate needs a majority of the primary vote to win the nomination outright in the June 8 primary. Otherwise, a June 22 runoff will be held between the top two vote-getters.

So many Republicans are running because South Carolina’s 1st is a conservative district and Rep. Henry Brown (R) is retiring.