Posted on 03/08/2012 7:54:01 AM PST by pgkdan
A new poll released on the eve of Rick Santorum’s first campaign visit to Alabama shows the former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania leading in the state Republican Party presidential primary.
The statewide poll conducted by Alabama State University’s Center for Leadership and Public Policy showed 22.7 percent of likely Republican voters supported Santorum, who is scheduled to make campaign appearances Thursday in Huntsville and Mobile.
Former Massachussetts Gov. Mitt Romney trailed Santorum with 18.7 percent, followed by Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the House from neighboring Georgia, with 13.8 percent.
The telephone poll of 470 likely GOP voters showed 29.8 remained undecided and 15 percent saying they intended to support other candidates. The poll did not ask voters whether they supported Ron Paul, the Texas congressman seeking the GOP nomination.
The poll was conducted March 1, prior to the Super Tuesday vote that helped establish Romney and Santorum as leaders in the race for the nomination, with Romney holding a total of 415 delegates and Santorum with 176.
Gingrich, with 105 delegates, canceled campaign plans in Kansas this week to focus on voters in Alabama and Mississippi, which share a primary election day Tuesday.
But the poll results indicate that support for Gingrich is waning in Alabama, according to ASU political science professor Thomas Vocino.
“The numbers are just not in his favor, and the trend is working against him,” Vocino said. “I can’t foresee a situation where he can rebound and win in Alabama.”
Vocino said Gingrich’s support has fallen steeply since ASU began tracking the race five weeks ago. Gingrich led the field in Alabama with 26.9 percent in the initial round of polling on Feb. 2. His support slipped to 18.9 percent by Feb. 23, when results showed him with a slim lead over Santorum at 18.3 percent.
Santorum’s steady increase over the same time period came almost completely at Gingrich’s expense, Vocino said. Romney, by comparison, has held flat at around 16-18 percent, according to Vocino.
The results indicate that Gingrich is unlikely to reach the 20 percent threshold that would allow him to win delegates in any of the state’s seven congressional districts.
“I think it is very problematic for Gingrich to get any” delegates, Vocino said
For someone who claims to want to discuss things at a, how did you put it to someone else, higher plane, or some such, that was a pretty murky answer.
Would you rather see Romney than Santorum then? That would tell me pretty much all I need to know.
Oh...I know exactly where you're coming from. Those of your ilk are entirely too easy to figure out.
I never answered you that way, so don’t worry about it.
I would prefer Santorum, but only by the thinnest of margins, over Mitt. And when you figure out what Santorum is all about, you will agree. If even.
Different plane. We’re done. Believe what you believe. Man’s gotta know his limitations....
Santorum’s run a campaign on a virtual shoestring, especially in the beginning, and it’s perfectly understandable that, without money, he missed some opportunities.
Hopefully, if it comes down to Santorum vs. Romney there won’t be too many people, possibly like you (?), who decide Romney is the answer to our problems, because our biggest problem right now is Obamacare, and Romney is not the one to trust to get rid of it.
In fact, for all the criticism Santorum receives for “campaigning only on social issues,” he’s the one candidate that puts repeal of Obamacare (and Romney’s weakness in this very area) front and center.
>>How do we know the same scenario won’t play out in Alabama?<<
It might. Hopefully, Alabama voters who don’t want Romney will decide, collectively, on their own, that only one candidate, whether that candidate be either Gingrich or Santorum, stands a chance of stopping Romney, and cast their votes accordingly.
Absent that, either Gingrich or Santorum would have to drop out before the vote is taken, and I doubt either is up to doing that, even if it is the most reliable way to stop Romney.
I don’t care how nice a man is. I want a brilliant, tough, mean sonofabitch fighting for me. Not a sweater vest.
Sorry - these are desperate times and I want a capable fighter.
And apparently yours end at tired old Eastwood doggerel.
Sir - I agree with your facts A through E, and yet, I think Newt’s mediocre/lackluster/uninspiring performance in the Florida debate is the reason for his current plight.
He had the stage at the time, after SC huge win, and did not come to that debate ready to fight. Consequently, when Romney slapped him, Newt didn’t respond - not with a slap or a kick...nothing. That was most unfortunate, because, I think many voters would have wanted to see what I wanted to see - NUCLEAR RETALIATION.
The last several weeks has shown that social issues will be on the back burner this election...-rolls eyes
>>And when you figure out what Santorum is all about, you will agree<<
You just can’t answer without implying, directly, that the person on the other side of the argument knows less than you do, can you? Enough then. Go discuss thing with your intellectual superiors, if you can find any.
I don’t think having Gingrich drop out would help Santorum. I really don’t.
Now for the people on this site, yes many of us think that. But the general population of R primary voters I don’t think so. Newt gets out, Romney runs away with it. jmho
I'm looking for the candidate with an AMERICAN strategy and ready and willing to use it with PEN IN HAND on day one!
NEWT is the ONLY ONE THAT HAS IT!!
Whew! If you can honestly compare Flip-Flop’s record with Santorum’s when it comes to changing positions, I don’t see any hope in pursuing this. Seriously.
The Monday night debate in Florida was the beginning of the end. He won SC by attacking liberals. He had two great days in Florida by attacking liberals (Sunday and Monday during the day). He came into that Monday debate with a big lead in Florida and nationwide. Just two days after big SC win.
Then - and maybe you and I disagree on this - then he let Mitt drag him off the subject of liberals and onto the subject of each other - and that was it.
He was outspent on negative ads 65 to 1 in Florida, and he was off message. His only chance was to stay focused on liberals because folks love Newt when he attacks liberals, not so much when he attacks other Republicans or when he defends himself.
But that fits in nicely with my timeline.
I am sure that you are right, at least to some degree.
The right to life is the greatest element of Liberty and Freedom bar none.
Your position is mixed up and backwards.
Exactly, the ‘righteous’ ones being conned by a ‘liar’.
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