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Santorum surges into the lead (National poll Santorum 38%, Romney 23%)
Public Policy Polling ^ | 02/11/2012 | Public Policy Polling

Posted on 02/11/2012 6:19:11 AM PST by Rational Thought

Riding a wave of momentum from his trio of victories on Tuesday Rick Santorum has opened up a wide lead in PPP's newest national poll. He's at 38% to 23% for Mitt Romney, 17% for Newt Gingrich, and 13% for Ron Paul.

Part of the reason for Santorum's surge is his own high level of popularity. 64% of voters see him favorably to only 22% with a negative one. But the other, and maybe more important, reason is that Republicans are significantly souring on both Romney and Gingrich. Romney's favorability is barely above water at 44/43, representing a 23 point net decline from our December national poll when he was +24 (55/31). Gingrich has fallen even further. A 44% plurality of GOP voters now hold a negative opinion of him to only 42% with a positive one. That's a 34 point drop from 2 months ago when he was at +32 (60/28).

(Excerpt) Read more at publicpolicypolling.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2012polls; election; happydance; mittromney; newt; polls; ricksantorum; santorum; santorum2012
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To: txhurl

I can’t help but think we made a mistake rejecting Jon Huntsman. conservative record (more than most conservatives), family man, authentic, electable… Thanks to a cast of Tea Party characters that led scared voters fleeing to Romney and right wing media that perpetuated the myth of Huntsman as a liberal. Something is seriously dysfunctional with the nominating process.


161 posted on 02/11/2012 8:28:11 AM PST by erlayman
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To: SteveAustin
DORK OPTICS

Well done sir. Give my producer your mailing address and we'll rush you a matched set of socks and sweater vests for your next chess club meeting.

162 posted on 02/11/2012 8:28:44 AM PST by C. Edmund Wright
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To: C. Edmund Wright

Both ought to stay in, and both ought to ignore the he** out of Romney and just take the fight to Obama — We need them in the fight NOW against him, not only on the campaign, but just by keeping pressure on him in general.

Make Romney come in third, fourth — make HIM drop.


163 posted on 02/11/2012 8:29:56 AM PST by LibsRJerks
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To: Maryhere
Santorum will not be any more “shamefully weak” than BO was when he ran the first time.

This is the danger of amateurs trying for in depth political analysis. That is a profoundly flawed analogy. Do you have any idea why?

164 posted on 02/11/2012 8:30:24 AM PST by C. Edmund Wright
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To: LibsRJerks

I consult Newt’s PAC, and that’s what I BEGGED THEM TO DO back in November. Focus on OBAMA. Ignore Romney. Ignore the negative ads. Do what makes folks cheer for Newt - which is to look a liberal in the eye and intellectually smack him (or her) down. I BEGGED.

No one listened.


165 posted on 02/11/2012 8:32:36 AM PST by C. Edmund Wright
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To: 21twelve; Absolutely Nobama; afraidfortherepublic; AmericanInTokyo; American Constitutionalist; ...


Santorum for President ping. Let me know if you want on or off the list.

Top 10 Reasons why Conservatives should support Santorum

16 Reasons Why Mitt Romney Would Be a Really, Really Bad President
166 posted on 02/11/2012 8:32:40 AM PST by Antoninus (Mitt Romney -- attempting to execute a hostile take-over of the Republican Party.)
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To: alicewonders

AMEN!

Agree totally!


167 posted on 02/11/2012 8:33:30 AM PST by Texas Deb
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To: C. Edmund Wright

Yeah, the whole age thing is entirely irrelevant as people live much longer now.

Remember Reagan in 1980 was 70 years old and one of the single greatest issues in that campaign was his age and how he would be the oldest President ever elected.

Today Newt is 68 and Hillary if she ever ran would be about 70. Ron Paul is 75. Age just isn’t an issue anymore.


168 posted on 02/11/2012 8:34:50 AM PST by SteveAustin
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To: erlayman

Memo sir: We rejected Huntsman NOT because of his policies so much - we rejected him because he made it clear he was NOT going to fight Obama hard and that he thinks Obama is a great guy who is just wrong about policy.

That kind of wimpy attitude, not to mention stunning ignorance of who Obama is and what drives him - is not needed anywhere around elected office.

I can hardly believe you said that....


169 posted on 02/11/2012 8:34:50 AM PST by C. Edmund Wright
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To: ohioWfan

Good post


170 posted on 02/11/2012 8:34:59 AM PST by MiddleEarth (With hope or without hope we'll follow the trail of our enemies. Woe to them, if we prove the faster)
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To: SteveAustin
I refuse to make my opponent's youth and inexperience an issue in this campaign....
171 posted on 02/11/2012 8:36:49 AM PST by C. Edmund Wright
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To: Rational Thought

And in a darkened room, Ann Coulter is sobbing, clutching her Mitt Romney photo. Evidently, so is Roger Ailes.
“They don’t love you like I do, Mitt! Somewhere, there’s a planet for us with a white picket fence. Dump your wife, though.”


172 posted on 02/11/2012 8:36:51 AM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: erlayman

Take two Breitbart video’s and call me in the morning.....


173 posted on 02/11/2012 8:37:54 AM PST by C. Edmund Wright
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To: C. Edmund Wright

I can hardly believe anyone thinks that we are left with winners, never mind fighters.


174 posted on 02/11/2012 8:37:54 AM PST by erlayman
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To: C. Edmund Wright

Well. I can see flaws in Rick Santorum. But I see far more flaws in Newt Gingrich. (However, as a whole I deeply admire and respect Newt Gingrich.) What I think you have are doing incorrectly with your logic is confusing the “significance” of certain facts that you may have right with the “signification” or meaning of those facts.

How do you distinguish Santorum’s efforts to appeal to a wider margin of voters from Gingrich’s effort’s regarding individual health care mandates, global warming and lobbying (or whatever you call it) for Freddie Mac?

These are flaws and they are serious flaws.

Then switch from analyzing the candidates and analyze the voters.

(I have already said I admire the man, Gingrich, as a whole.) Now, do you really think that a majority or even a plurality of voters is going to stop seeing Gingrich with the “ick” factor regarding his past marital history? I do not think they will. I have been reading about this and praying for the person for years. It still bugs me. Nonetheless, I realized a long time ago that heroes are a construct of the people who follow them or adulate them. The people behind them are always flawed. So for me, Newt is a hero. For America? He never ever will be. It is an impossibility. I think you know this.

For me, back to Rick, I think on the whole, despite his flaws, he IS the most consistent conservative in the race. Add up the dollar value of his failing compared to the dollar value of any of the others. Or add up the instances of specific failures. Or add up what people who have served with them in the past say. Rick Santorum is the man who is most conservative and most electable at this time.

I personally admire all the men running in different ways and disdain certain things only about Romney and Ron Paul.

I worry Romney has too few deep internal convictions and is “sincerely” swayed to the argument which he thinks will win the day. That is why, more than the fact that he was one way and is now another, that I just can’t stand the idea of him winning the primary. If he did win and then went on to the White House, there is no telling where his opinions might swing to in the future. He would be just as sincere about the new opinions and feel like any decision that he makes would be OK because his heart is in the right place. (I actually think this was Bill Clinton’s problem from the other side.)

I worry about Ron Paul because he confuses so much of what the constitution actually says with the way he thinks things ought to work and vise-versa. He is very willing to make exceptions when it benefits his particular segment of Americana (shrimp subsidies anyone). Finally he fails to understand the need for America to defend American Interests ANYWHERE in the world. Our interests do not stop at our borders. Our first overseas actions were to defend our right to trade in the Arabia’s if they were willing buyers and sellers there. He fails to understand that “due process” is a right that the unborn have just as much as anyone else and would totally abrogate the government’s responsibility to protect their lives.

Finally Newt, I laid out a few problems above and I don’t care to layout more. I think of the four left in the race, he and Santorum are the only ones who are “internally” conservative in their formation of positions and opinions. I just feel like the warnings of people who served with him like Dick Army, Tom DeLay and so forth let you know that he is a mixed bag and easily swayed and bowled over at times. I think his leadership with the Contract with America and later promotion of American renewal ideas and particular “Drill her, Drill Now!” have been brilliant and wonderful. He is a mixed bag and I think his failures to conservatism and overconfidence in his ability to manage liberals (the couch commercial with Pelosi, the Healthcare collusion with Hillary Clinton) are dangerous and detrimental far beyond a list Rick Santorum may have published to blunt an opponent’s reach for the middle voters.


175 posted on 02/11/2012 8:37:54 AM PST by GulfBreeze
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To: Antoninus

I think Santorum is going to yank the Michigan rug out from under Romney.


176 posted on 02/11/2012 8:38:25 AM PST by cripplecreek (What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?)
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To: Caipirabob

We’ll never defeat the “elite”. They’re a part of every culture in every place throughout history. Every revolution replaces one group of elites with another. Keep in mind our Founders were elites. George Washington was worth about $500 million in today’s dollars and Ben Franklin was the 18th century’s version of a first tier rock star. We have to win the thoughtspace so that the elites of today are more like our Founders in outlook.

We’ve got to beat them with ideas because ideas cannot be defeated. It’s why we’re winning on abortion and guns. At the end of the day people have common sense and they’ll vote self-interest every time. It will be a balancing act between education and action. It won’t be easy, either.


177 posted on 02/11/2012 8:38:26 AM PST by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
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To: ez

And your job is what? Licking his bottom and telling him how great it tastes?


178 posted on 02/11/2012 8:39:34 AM PST by GulfBreeze
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To: blueunicorn6

“Dump your wife, though.”

Yeah, because Roger don’t swing that way....


179 posted on 02/11/2012 8:39:51 AM PST by moehoward
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To: sanescold
Seriously, you are either Pollyanna, or Rebbecca from Sunny Brook Farm.

You view this main body of America, and the Moderate, quite Liberal voting public, like it is a surrealistic extension of Sarah Pac or something.

No matter who we choose as our candidate, we have to get by this ever powerful and influential MSM. This election will prove to be the fight of our lives! This idea that all we need to do is pick a candidate, and that candidate will be crowned the day it happens, is nothing but a Grimm Fairytale.

180 posted on 02/11/2012 8:40:54 AM PST by PSYCHO-FREEP (If you come to a fork in the road, take it........)
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