Posted on 03/13/2012 9:54:07 PM PDT by Steelfish
Romney Holds Modest Lead Over Santorum In Illinois
3/13/2012 (RTTNews) - Front-runner Mitt Romney has a narrow lead over Rick Santorum among likely voters in the upcoming Illinois primary, a new survey says.
The survey, taken ahead of the March 20 vote, found the former Massachusetts governor slightly ahead of Santorum, 35 percent to 31 percent in Illinois, according to a Chicago Tribune/WGEN-TV poll.
Trailing far behind the top two are former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich at 12 percent and Texas Rep. Ron Paul at 7 percent.
The poll also showed Romney doing well in Chicago's suburbs, where there are generally more moderate Republican voters. In Cook County, Romney tops Santorum 39 percent to 30 percent.
In keeping with the pattern of rural voters preferring Santorum, the survey found the former Pennsylvania senator leads Romney 35 percent to 29 percent in 96 counties outside of Chicago.
Romney continues to struggle with gaining support of those who describe themselves as very conservative, as many question his conservative credentials.
Among very conservative voters in Illinois — 29 percent of the GOP electorate — Santorum leads with 43 percent compared with 29 percent for Romney.
(Excerpt) Read more at rttnews.com ...
Gingrich should leave Santorum alone here so the electorate can watch Romney beat him 1-1.
Absolutely- but Gingrich’s ego comes first. If he quits, he’ll be ignored and considered irrelevant. This explains why his colleagues in Congress tossed him out.
If your for Newt vote for Rick in Illinois the idea is to beat Romney..
So why’d the voters of Pennsylvania toss lil’ Ricky out on his ass in a historic landslide if he was so great?
We need Newt to stay in, in Illinois.
Rick is not on the ballot, in every Congressional District in Illinois!
Right now he has a 20% lead in PA over Romney. Remember, PA is a blue-state and he was washed out in the anti-Bush sentiment that gave us the Pelosi speakership. Electoral tides come and go.
Because Rick ran against a guy named “Casey” in a year when Republicans ALL took a big hit!
This is prior to Santorum’s wins in Alabama and Mississippi. With that in mind, things are not looking that bad for Rick in Illinois.
Rick’s not eligible for about 10 of the delegates in IL IIRC. It’s a fair bet most of those are in more liberal counties he wasn’t going to defeat Mitt in anyway. He doesn’t need Newt in the race there. The VA strategy of Newt/Rick types voting Paul is sufficient there and offers Rick his best chance in the rest of the state.
That was so 2006. It’s old news.
That was so 2006. It’s old news.
Geez...the body wasn’t even cold yet and already we’re seeing Romney is still in the lead posts...Let Santorum have his moment and then let’s see where the chips fall in Illinois...
If either Newt or Gingrich had been on Virginia’s ballot Romney wouldn’t be counting those delegates. Are they all first ballot committed at the convention?
Just because Newt pulls out doesn’t mean you can’t vote for him over Paul. Some people have still been voting Perry or Cain. But Newt pulling out would certainly give Romney wins in those districts against Paul as they did in VA.
IL is essentially winner-take-all by district, in the form of direct delegate elections. So it’s a very dangerous vote-splitting scenario. Mitt only needs his delegates to get 26% of the vote in a district to win that district if the others split evenly. If it was Santorum vs. Mitt, and Santorum could get at least a slightly higher vote than Mitt in every district, then Santorum would take every delegate in the state.
Oops that should be Newt or Rick. Sorry getting late. Good night.
I live in Illinois and that's a flat out lie.
“Geez...the body wasn’t even cold yet and already we’re seeing Romney is still in the lead posts...Let Santorum have his moment and then let’s see where the chips fall in Illinois...”
To add to your point, after tonight, this poll is no longer relevant. There’s likely to be a shift of at least a few points to Rick’s column, mostly coming from Newt voters I would imagine. This puts the state in a virtual dead heat.
In Ilinois voters may declare party affiliation for the primary at the polling place. As a result Dems can vote in the Rep primary for Romney. If Romney loses Illinois it is big news. If he wins it is to be expected — liberal state with Dem crossover voting. In any event Illinois will go for its favorite son Obama in the general election.
In any event Illinois will go for its favorite son Obama in the general election.
*******************************************************
You really think Rahm will “work” Chicago’s election count for him? NAH , never happen in Chicago. /s
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.