Posted on 03/17/2012 6:47:57 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney would stand to benefit just as much as Rick Santorum if Newt Gingrich exited the presidential race, according to a new poll released Friday.
The Gallup poll defied conventional wisdom by suggesting Romney would peel off just as many Gingrich supporters as Santorum would. Forty percent of Gingrich supporters in Gallup's daily tracking poll said Romney was their second choice while 39 percent said they would migrate to Santorum.
"If two candidates for a presidential nomination compete in the same ideological space, it would make sense that if one dropped out that the other would benefit," Gallup's Jeffrey Jones wrote in analysis accompanying the poll. "But that does not appear to be the case for the 2012 Republican nomination."
Jones added that for Santorum to overtake Romney, "it may not be as simple as picking up additional support from Gingrich voters should the former speaker of the House drop out." Rather, "Santorum would also likely need to cut into Romney's current base of support to gain ground on the frontrunner."
Rick Santorum has battled Gingrich through most of the primary cycle as the two contenders have tried to establish themselves as the chief alternative to Romney. However, since winning the South Carolina primary on Jan. 21, Gingrich has won just one other state -- his native Georgia.
Meanwhile, Rick Santorum has shown strength in several southern and midwestern states, having won Iowa, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Alabama, Mississippi, Colorado, Minnesota, Kansas, North Dakota and the non-binding Missouri primary, putting pressure on Gingrich to pack his bags and allow Santorum to go head-to-head with Romney.
While the former Pennsylvania has not explicitly called on Gingrich to exit the race, he has publicly admitted that he could benefit from his rival's departure.
But after the Mississippi and Alabama primaries, Gingrich argued his continued presence was damaging to Romney, forcing him to engage in a two-front war on the airwaves against his rivals.
Gingrich also dismissed suggestions that by staying in the race he was hurting Santorum, saying the former Pennsylvania senator had essentially gone one-on-one with Romney in Ohio and Michigan and lost.
Santorum and Romney are set to do battle in Illinois Tuesday, the next big contest to vote following the Missouri caucuses and Puerto Rican primary over the weekend.
The latest poll in Illinois by FOX Chicago News showed Romney leading Santorum 37 percent to 31 percent in the state. Gingrich had 14 percent while eight percent supported Texas Rep. Ron Paul.
Santorum supported a taxpayer MANDATE on ethanol!
http://conservatives4palin.com/2012/03/santorum-called-for-federal-ethanol-mandate.html
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2669660/posts
Would you like to talk about his
Environmental Solutions Agency? You know that taxpayer funded agency that will “help” private industry? LOL
How bout his continued support of “incentivizing” flex fuel vehicles and green energy?
How but defunding planned parenthood only to keep that taxpayer money and give it to someone else.
Santorum is calling on Speaker Gingrich to drop, so he can lock up the VP slot by using the first big WTA primary loss as cover to fold up his campaign. Santorum is just that type.
The fact that virtually everyone has said they would support Romney if he is the nominee, even Levin who said he would be in 100%, is in large part the reason the GOPe has no interest in either of the remaining candidates.
Truth is we will get Romney unless Newt at least withdraws from the states that are winner take all. But his Ego will not allow that, so we will likely get our candidate chosen for us once again, so I will write in Palin.
Let’s clarify the difference..Newt supported exploration..Santorum supported a fed tax MANDATE.
You should just vote for the original article then, Democratic.
Newt WANTS waste money exploring corn? LOL Not to mention his whole new federal agency ideas.
Guess its easy to be the smartest man in the room if the room is filled with idiots.
Don’t start that crap with me. I have seen some Newt supporters right here on FR say they would rather vote for Mitt than Santorum.
So fine, you go on ahead and do so.
I will vote for the nominee because there is nothing worse than Obama.
I get tired of the BS. Newt is done, Santorum is almost done, though he was my choice. I don’t plan to have hard feelings. It is just the way it worked out. FR has always gotten behind the one that cannot win. Nothing new.
Sooner or later reality sets in.
Nothing much any of us can do about it now. Even if Newt drops out, it will only allow Romney to win sooner, This poll is accurate. The volume of votes will increase for both candidates.
From a realistic standpoint, regardless that Romney is banned from this forum, according to all the polls, Romney has a chance to beat Obama, the Moderates and Indies, don't mind him because he is hitting all the right rhetoric in regards to the economy. Although we know him too well. If he does get the nomination, we have to learn how to hold his feet to the fire. Because we have no other choice.
Maybe we could install a Harkonnen Heart Plug in Romuloid, to make sure he can't double cross us!
For cripes sake, dforest is a great freeper. Always has been! Good Conservative also. I agree, Romney will likely win. Being realistic is not being a Romney supporter. It is simply what it is!
You will find no history in support of Mitt. There is a primary going on now. If you failed to notice, who is ahead?
I have said repeatedly I would vote for Rick or Newt, whoever was in the lead. I have surely done that. I prefer Rick, but if Newt was a threat to Romney, I would choose him.
Now, neither Newt or Rick has much of a chance left.
Look at the math. What is your problem? You can report me, but I have shown no support for Mitt.
You are the one that sounds like a lib. You don’t want to hear what I am saying, so you want to shut me up.
Even though we have butted heads lately. Psycho, I love ya.
We have most the time been on the same side.
We will get through this thing.
FWIW, I don’t think we have a perfect fusion candidate. Wish we did. I could name a few, but, they ain’t running.
Santorum tries to slither his way through the election without being fully vetted. He wont debate in Portland out of sheer fear some of his past votes, endorsements and more will be exposed.
Vesty never admits he was wrong...he passes the blame Obama style to Bush or the team..anybody but himself.
Here is Little Ricky on ethanol..”Inconsistencies
Though Santorum made few flip-flops during his congressional career, a notable exception was his shifting stance on federal ethanol subsidies. “Prior to 9/11, I was not a big fan of ethanol subsidies but 2001 changed my mind on a lot of things, and one of them was trying to support domestic energy and this is part of it,” Santorum told IowaPolitics.com January 27, 2011. “My pledge to you is to work with this industry to create a bigger and bigger place in the market for domestically produced ethanol biodiesel.”
You want to lie to each other fine, but please refrain from including me in your idiocy.
The truth hurts ya huh...facts are facts too bad Vesty cant admit to it
Yeah that makes alot of sense, Gallup only polled freepers.
The Santos vote is alot of I HATE Newt voters, thy are vindictive and will slither over to Romney for all the wrong reasons.
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