Santorum surges into the lead (National poll Santorum 38%, Romney 23%)

Public Policy Polling ^ | 02/11/2012 | Public Policy Polling

[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).

[Gator113]

Thank you for your efforts.

Stay the course.... the America we knew is worth it.

GO NEWT GO—it’s about the survival of our country!!

[Gene Eric]

>> Norris will be proven more up to speed on Santorum than Rush. Amazing aint’ it?

The radio cons are treating Santorum as if he’s performing his first piano recital — accolades for effort.

[wardaddy]

I don’t find making fun of a candidate’s kids funny...

nice username...it suits you

[Gene Eric]

>> And the MSM will rip him into dry kindling.

But not until they’re sure Newt has been eliminated.

[caww]

The Left is pushing Santorum and Romney to keep Newt out.

Of course the media is on board 100% to get the job done. Newt is the GOP'S threat even moreso at this juncture...it's going to be an uphill battle all the way to the Whitehouse....but let's get Newt there!!!!!

Go Newt Go go go Newt GO!!!!!!!!!!

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

[nice username...it suits you]

Coming from the likes of you, thanks for the compliment! It must be working after all........

[LibsRJerks]

It’s too bad. These two have a stain on them now, and people just won’t forget it. They’ll always been seen as hating each other and just wallowing in personal attacks. Didn’t do EITHER of them any good .....

but I maintain, that JERK Romney started it!! Newt was caught between a rock and hard place. He was right in fighting back, but he should have just tempered it a bit and mixed it in with positive ...instead he went TOTALLY on the offense.

Hopefully, Newt can shake that off as time goes on ...

[FresnoRobert]

I’m not concerned with Rick not being on the ballot in DC. But if all this points to why Rick can’t win, and Rick is thumping Newt, Mitt and Ron. Who can win? If Newt was doing so well, where has he won besides South Carolina? In my opinion, Newt’s negatives are too high to win in a general election. We all have opinions. What matters is results. I am not asking for anyone to get out till after Super Tuesday.

If Newt cannot sweep the South, there is not ANY way he could take the nomination. If Rick stays hot, he can get there. He is leading in Michigan. He will likely take Pennsylvania. Time will tell if he can do well in the South. If Rick and Newt cannot enough to stay on top, they should both stay in the hope of a brokered convention.

[Timber Rattler]

The daughter with her small head on enormous body, her face puckered up with the same dyspeptic look her father sports most of the time

You ought to be ashamed of yourself...really.

[caww]

You keep clinging to your belief that Newt is really a rock solid conservative, meanwhile I’ll live in reality.

Well I just gotta chime in here.....

Do we want a "More" conservative candidate in some eyes? Or.... an "EFFECTIVE CONSERVATIVE"...which no one can argue with Newt's accomplishments as he's done more for conservatism than all the candidates running put together..and that "EFFECTIVELY".

[Timber Rattler]

This is the danger of amateurs trying for in depth political analysis.

You need to yank that plank out of your own eye, Ed.

[hoosiermama]

I would say that Titan is looking at the same material Newt's campaign is analyzing.

It a long game. The coach doesn't put his star player in for every second of every play: the quarterback doesn't carry the ball every time it's snapped.

There are reverses, double reverses, Hail-Mary passes, and short hand offs. Defense out maneuvers, steps aside, pulls the occasional offside etc.

It looks more and more that both Little Ricky and Uncle Ronnie are members of the team to beat the NV odds/Champion-makers AKA GOPEe They promote the team who has the biggest, fastest, meanest players that money can buy. They’re forgetting that those teams can and often are over hyped by the MSM and don't deal with the grit of the underdog. (See Milan Indiana Basketball/HOOSIERS)

Time and again the fans are cheering on the under dogs. We're setting up our own “Dream Team” We've got a coach who not only understand the game, but makes up the plays as they are needed.

GO TEAM
GO NEWT

[RasterMaster]

He’s also carried the water for the other side on far too numerous occasions. Natzi Pelosi’s loveseat was just one of many incidents where Newt has strayed from the reservation for no apparent reason.

[Chi-townChief]

Does Santorum have the cojones to stand up to 0bama??

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

You must have missed Newt's speech at CPAC yesterday. He came on right after Santorum had just put them into a catatonic coma. Santorum must have forced them to get a good nap, because Newt electrified them with his first sentence. From that point on, it was another stellar, standing ovation inducing performance.

Newt hit on all of his very solid and well planned solutions to fix this mess, and the there was not one quiet hand in the place.

It was a Grand Slam of speeches, he not only smacked it out of the park, it went into orbit. I don't suspect that Newt will stay down for long, now that he has found his groove again.

It will also be key, that now all the lights are on Santorum, Santorum’s own serious character defects will surely make the electorate fully realize what a mistake they have made in picking him for the moment.

[OrangeHoof]

I’m going to presume these poll numbers reflect Republicans or leaning Republicans and it is noteworthy that, in this group, both Romney and Gingrich are as unpopular as they are popular. That’s shocking and, I think, reflects how horrific their negatives would be among voters at large. We know Newt was over 60% negative in a national poll of all voters.

Seems to me that Santorum is the last chance for a conservative to take the nomination and win in the general and that only Santorum and Romney have *any* chance of winning the general. Santorum may be the last best chance to unify the base so that they go into the general with one voice and one message.

[caww]

Rick won't take PA. over Newt....that's just not going to happen unless 'the left' keeps pushing Santorum as they're doing now. Don't under estimate Newt's keen ability to play this Primary to his advantage. He is known to lay low and let...as Santorum is doing...things line up...Rick's doing just fine arranging that but he has zip delegates to win him the election or way to attain them since he's not registered in states he would need.....not possible for Santorum. The most he can do is pitch hit with Newt to keep Romney at bay and that's exactly what's happening.

The buzz is even the GOP is willing to take this to a brokered convention to keep Newt from winning....and they've apparently got Jeb Bush hooked up to step forward, though he flatly refused to run in this Primary...this might be the GOP cover if Romney dropped the ball.

That's why Newt has already stated he would indeed stay in this race all the way to the convention...Newt knows what they're up to and is not afraid to face them down there if necessary

[luvie]

We agree on something! :)

[Reily]

He did testify against Gore on the “Cap and Trade” hearings. He has walked much of that back. Not as much as I would like be he has! Newt has always been interested in environmental issues. Has always advocated that there is a conservative position on this and that political playing field should not be ceded to the Rats. If we let that happen there is no counter to Rats claiming that conservatives want dirty water and air. Newt is often too uncritical of environmental claims and claims coming from the academic community even more so. (Remember he does come from that community!). He needs to realize this and be doubly skeptical, particularly since his training is not in the sciences but in history. He needs to realize that he can be conned by “well crafted environmental story”. I think he has been burned enough on it that he is realizing his limitations on that issue and he is now marching down the right path on that.
Now the Fannie & Freddi stuff, he has explained that more then adequately and he did nothing wrong. If you choose to believe otherwise in spite of the facts then too bad! The Dede thing, much of that blame is due to the short comings the local New York State GOP officials. There have been several NY Staters on here who know the local politics and have said how locally corrupt it is. Newt's main problem here was jumping in too quick before he had any facts and he trusted the local GOP mavens. Of course his politician's ego wouldn't let him walk it back before he started to look foolish. The “Reagan era is over” statement was taken out of context. Basically he was arguing that saying Reagan Reagan Reagan like Dorothy (of Oz fame!) tapping her shoes together to leave Oz is not sufficient. Reagan was the greatest expositor of conservative principles in my life time. However he didn't invent them, he stood on the shoulders of giants as did others all the way back to the founding fathers. Conservative need to remember that connection and test candidates in light of that connection with present day issues. Anyway Nancy Reagan did make a public statement saying something about passing the torch to Newt. Newt has zigged & zagged at times with it, but if you average all that out he is still heading in the right Conservative (Reagan-like)direction.
Anyway Reagan wasn't even Reagan his last 2 or 3 years in office! He kind of admits that in his biography, he let himself be conned on a tax increase and on illegal immigration amnesty. Newt was there saw it, and I think has learned from that.

I like Santorum, but he needs to go back and take his Senate seat back. He is not ready for this many of his statements are just conservative platitudes. Now he does have a conservative record unlike Romney who also utters platitudes. I listen to him and I say OK fine I agree and then go back to whatever I was doing nothing grabs me and makes want to go “Over the Top” (To use a WWI saying!). When he is specific they are primarily “half measures”, much better then Romney whose solutions are quarter, 1/8 or 1/16 measures if he evens offers a solution. These just continue to kick the can down the road. The problems we have need bold measures. There are only two candidates that do that Gingrich & Paul. Paul is very very right on some things and very very wrong on others. Unfortunately what he is wrong on is potentially nationally cataclysmic and wipes out his positives. Just about everything Newt cites as national economic problems I have personally either experienced professionally or seen it in action professionally where either a corporation reacts bureaucratically (usually because of USG regulations!)or the USG reacts unthinking bureaucratically.
I don't really care that it took Newt three tries to find apparent marital bliss. I just hope he did. And don't cite Clinton, Clinton's problem was not the sex but lying under oath to a grand jury. (Merely potentially undermines the whole federal grand jury process!)
Maybe Rick later with some more seasoning.

[jpsb]

Yes I have a problem with the people that have bankrupted the nation and grew government to the point that it has ruined the economy. Not to mention the related loss of individual liberty and the rise of a police state. So I will not be voting for Santorum any time soon.