Election 2012: South Carolina Republican Primary(Romney 27%, Santorum 24%)

Rasmussen Reports ^ | 01/06/2012 | Staff

[Rational Thought]

What a difference a caucus makes. Rick Santorum who two months ago had one percent (1%) support among likely South Carolina Republican Primary voters now is running a close second there with 24% of the vote.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the Palmetto State finds former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney still in the lead, earning 27% support from likely GOP Primary Voters, up from 23% in early November. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is in third with 18% of the vote, followed by Texas Congressman Ron Paul at 11%.

Bringing up the rear are Texas Governor Rick Perry with five percent (5%) and former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman at two percent (2%). Another two percent (2%) of these likely primary voters like some other candidate, and 11% remain undecided

[tennmountainman]

Awe............

You blames Santorum because Romney’s ahead. Yet the real fix to that is for Perry to drop out. Yet, u do not call for Perry to drop out. That is the logical solution, Right?

[Notary Sojac]

18% (Newt)+ 5% (Perry)+24% (Santorum) = 47%.

Can’t conservatives add, or is it all ego?

Here on FR, where some of us just luuuuuv to devote post after post after post to trashing "Newtbots" or "Perrybots" (I suspect "Santbots" has already been coined by some freeper).....Yes. Yes, it IS all ego. All of it.

[CPT Clay]

4 excellent points!

I suspect S Cackalaky is Gov Goodhairs last.

[Rational Thought]

You mentioned money in one of your previous posts. As per the Santorum campaign, they raised over $2 Million in just the past couple of days, and are in the process of beefing up organization.

As for poll numbers, the closer we get to the actual elections, the more accurate the poll numbers become.

[CPT Clay]

Thanks for your scouting report, on the ground in SC.

[SamAdams76]

Several factors negatively impacting Perry (aside from the debate performances).

• He's a Republican from Texas and is perceived as another Bush. This is unfair but perception is reality. Romney will have the same issue nationally, being from Massachusetts (just another Northeast liberal in the mold of Dukakis and Kennedys).

• He comes across as a phony. Again, this is perception and not necessarily reality. But many perceive his "down-home-backslapping" mannerisms as contrived and artificial. Add to that the perfect hair and the exaggerated accent and he could be selling cars down at the lot.

• Debates aside, Perry does seem to have more than his share of "goofy moments" and is thus not taken seriously by many that don't know him that well.

Finally, we can't overlook that awful debate moment when Perry could not remember the departments of government he wanted to eliminate as president which is supposedly a cornerstone of his platform. That would be like Herman Cain not being able to name the three components of his 9-9-9 plan or Newt not being able to remember the main points of his 1994 "Contract with America".

Unfortunately, that moment will haunt Perry for the rest of his political life. If Perry ever does make it to the nomination, the SNL people will have skits playing off that moment from the first show in September to the show right before the election. They will do to his image what Chevy Chase did to Gerald Ford during the run-up to the 1976 elections. Now realize that Gerald Ford was far from the bumbling, stumbling fool that Chevy Chase made him out to be on TV. But such is the power of the media that they can take a bad moment and turn it into national obsession. Witness what the same show did to Sarah Palin four years ago.

[TexasFreeper2009]

Because Perry has an organization and money to compete if he can just reconnect the other side of his brain during debates.

It's just too late for Santorum.

Look at it this way... Perry had his surge in September.. had millions and millions on hand and still couldn't get things together quick enough to even get on the Virginia ballot. Gingrich surged in December, and couldn't either.

Santorum is surging in January... 3 months from now he will have as much organization as Perry has now and 2 months from now as much as Gingrich.

3 months from now all the following states will have already voted:

1/3 Iowa caucuses
1/10 New Hampshire
1/21 South Carolina
1/31 Florida
2/4 Nevada
2/4 Maine
2/7 Minnesota
2/7 Colorado
2/28 Michigan
2/28 Arizona
3/3 Washington
3/6 Ohio
3/6 Alaska
3/6 Georgia
3/6 Massachusetts
3/6 north dakota
3/6 Oklahoma
3/6 Tennessee
3/6 Texas
3/6 Vermont
3/6 Virginia
3/6 Idaho
3/6 wyoming
3/10 kansas
3/10 virgin islands
3/13 Alabama
3/13 Mississippi
3/13 Hawaii
3/17 Missouri
3/20 Illinois
3/24 Louisiana
4/3 Maryland
4/3 District of Columbia
4/3 Wisconsin (moved from Feb 21st)

So how is Santorum going to win, if by the time he gets to Perry's current level of organization most of the voting has already happened?

He doesn't. Which means if Santorum doesn't implode soon Romney walks to the nomination.

[veritas2002]

No more pro-Obama socialist crap.

All we get is LIES LIES AND MORE LIES.

Don’t believe what the leftist Democrats, the mainstream media, and Barbara Bush say about Santorum.

The Leftist/Progressive/Socialist axis is trying the demonize Santorum so they can pick the Republican candidate.

Here’s my analysis: 35% Leftist voters; 35% Conservative Voters and 30% Middle of the Road Swing Voters.

Obama gets the Leftists and half of the Middle = 52%.

Romney gets 25% of the Conservatives and 18% of the Middle = 43%

Santorum gets 18% of the Middle and 35% of Conservatives = 53%

They did it to us with McCain and they want to do it to us again with Romney.

You can fool me once but if we let this happen again and Obama gets re-elected, IT’S ALL OUR FAULT! EXPLAIN THAT TO YOUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN.

[Diogenesis]

"Vote Count Error? Did Rick Santorum Really Win the Iowa Caucuses?
DES MOINES, Iowa - Edward True, 28, of Moulton, said he helped count the votes
and jotted the results down on a piece of paper to post to his Facebook page.
He said when he checked to make sure the Republican Party of Iowa
got the count right, he said he was shocked to find they hadn’t.
“When Mitt Romney won Iowa by eight votes and I’ve got a
20-vote discrepancy here, that right there says Rick Santorum won Iowa,” True said. “Not Mitt Romney.”

"Several UNREPORTED news reports have it that Romney
did not win the Iowa Caucuses.
Barring any objective, verifiable proof that shows more than 12 votes mistakenly
being credited to Santorum, Romney lost."

"Could Typo Rewrite Caucus History? (Santorum may regain win)"

[ScottinVA]

South Carolina Primary is going to sort this out.

Absolutely. The good folks in Palmetto country will give us a clearer view as to who the un-Romney will be, going forward.

[Lou Budvis]

The problem is we’re tied of GOP prez candidates being inarticulate. The libs love to portray conservatives as dumb and Perry’s gaffes play right into that stereotype.

[tennmountainman]

A lot of feel the same way about Gingrich chances at the nomination. Except Santorum has actually won something.
Gingrich and Perry have not won squat!

If u are concerned about Santorum’s rising poll numbers,
you should contact the Gingrich campaign. He seems to be hording all that campaign cash. I’d say now would be a good time to start using that horded cash.

[greyfoxx39]

They are going to take his 25% to each state and wear down the opposition.

Good analysis.

[littleharbour]

Santorum’s path to victory is to make a respectable showing in NH, have Perry drop out and support him prior to SC, win SC, then have Gingrich drop out and support him. He would then have the financial resources and momentum to pound Romney throughout the south.

[pollywog]

I think you are right. We NEED CONSOLIDATION against Mitt.. but WHO to drop out? and then would Ron Paul run as a Independent and water it all down?

[TexasFreeper2009]

um... I hate to be the bearer of bad news.. but Santorum lost Iowa.

which means he hasn’t won squat either.

[RasterMaster]

Conservatives should rally behind Santorum...support for the “lower tier” (Newt, Perry, Paul, etc.) candidates will only split the vote and hand the nomination to Romney (just like Fred did for McLame).

Since Newt and Perry are not gaining any momentum, both should drop out of the running and throw thier support behind Santorum who has the money and support to beat Flip Romney and has the conservative credentials to dethrone King Hussein III.

[VanDeKoik]

“A lot of feel the same way about Gingrich chances at the nomination. Except Santorum has actually won something.
Gingrich and Perry have not won squat!”

Iowa isn’t a “win” for anyone.

He has the same number of delegates as Romney and I think Paul too.

And that is only 4 more than what Perry and Newt got.

And this is by basically not existing on the media radar. Everyone here knows this. It wasn’t because of powerful speeches or charisma or great debate performances or even policy statements. It was “Oh well he seems to haven’t been touched yet. I go for him!”.

Pretty much we are just waiting for the feather to come knock him over. His position is the weakest because he hasn’t been hit. Because he hasn’t stuck his neck out anywhere. Santorum is playing hide out, hoping that disgust with Romney will supply him with all the votes he needs.

He WILL get hit whenever Romney and the press is done using him as a toy to keep the right busy splitting their votes.

[RasterMaster]

"...which means he hasn’t won squat either."

Actually, Santorum won half of Iowa's delgates....Newt got a goose egg.

[Wolfstar]

you name the candidate, someone will name the problems

Welcome to the human condition. Except for Jesus, there isn't a human being ever born, or who ever will be born, who is without flaws. The self-defeating problem most conservatives have is they make unattainable perfection the enemy of the good.