Posted on 01/13/2012 8:28:30 AM PST by Qbert
Mitt Romney still holds first place in the South Carolina Primary field, while his opponents jockey for second with the voting eight days away.
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Republican Primary Voters in South Carolina finds Romney ahead with 28% support, but now former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is in second place with 21% of the vote. Support for former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum who was in second a week ago has fallen back to 16%, putting him dead even with Texas Congressman Ron Paul who also earns 16%.
This South Carolina survey of 750 Likely Republican Primary Voters was conducted on January 12, 2012 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC.
(Excerpt) Read more at rasmussenreports.com ...
It's time give up on the idea of Santorum being a viable candidate and for sane conservatives to rally around Newt, who is the only one that can beat Romney in SC.
The deck is being stacked against Newt. The negative adds are coming from all quarters even from those I thought would be at least neutral. Even Santorum is getting scant mentioning lately.
The talk of electing the most Conservative candidate seems to have gone by the wayside in some circles on talk radio. I don’t know what to think anymore. Anyways GO NEWT! I will be making another donation to Newt’s campaign tomorrow. We have to make a stand in South Carolina.
Obama would love that.
IOW THE MESSAGE SHOULD BE:
It’s time to put the needs of your country in front of your personal ambition!
Whether you like him or not, Newt Gingrich is the only "man with a PLAN" among the active candidates.
Good grief, wake up, will you? Perry has been polling in single digits for MONTHS now, and has actually LOST traction with the voters.
"They"? You insinuate that there's a concerted effort behind the scenes to undermine your candidate, when it's PERRY who hasn't closed the sale with the voters.
Perry is not going to win the nomination, no matter how much you believe he deserves it. At this point, he's only taking conservative votes away from one or the other of the two candidates who could beat Mitt Romney in SC, if he would only drop out and endorse one of them.
The 5% of the vote he's carrying would make all the difference to Newt, who is about 5% behind Mitt in today's polls.
I wish like hell that Rick Santorum would rent a clue and drop out, but he's doing well enough to still have a sliver of hope. Perry? Not a prayer. One or both of them need to show what they're made of and do the right thing for the future direction of this country, and they need to do it NOW.
Nope, I’ll write in Sarah Palin.
You and I disagree on Gingrich, but I'm in complete agreement with you on Palin. By all rights, she should be in this, and should be facing down Obama in the general.
This is the craziest election I've ever seen, so who knows, she may still be. Eisenhower refused to run, until he was drafted at the convention. Something just as wild could happen in this election.
He needs to drop out and will, no matter how much time you waste on FR hootin’ and hollerin’ and wishing for it to not happen. Face it, he BBQed his campaign a long time ago, you guys are just simply in denial of the inevitable.
I wish to hell people would stop trying to manipulate this election according to what they think will occur. There's no guarantee that Perry's voters or Santorum's voters would go to Newt. In fact, the reality is they could go to Romney and put him over or worse, go to Paul.
What if these candidates decide everyone is right and fold and Paul becomes our nominee? Just let the people vote for who they want for President and stop acting like they're spoiling everything with their choice. No one knows how this will end except God and he's not sharing.
How is my speaking my opinion "manipulating this election"?
You want to know what I think? I think that Rick Perry is 'manipulating' this election by remaining in the contest, after he's been numerically eliminated.
The man doesn't have a prayer of winning the nomination, and is only drawing (conservative) votes away from one of the two conservative candidates who can beat Romney.
I don't know what his purpose for staying in the race is, but I found it all too odd that the morning after he only got 5% of the Iowa vote, and then stated that he was going home to Texas to re-evaluate his campaign, he was all Gung Ho to carry on to South Carolina.
There's no guarantee that Perry's voters or Santorum's voters would go to Newt. In fact, the reality is they could go to Romney and put him over or worse, go to Paul.
I think that's an emotional response. You know Perry's supporters better than that. They're hardly the type of people who would shift their support to Mitt or Paul. If Perry's no longer in it, they're going to look for the candidate who comes closest to what they want in a president, and it sure as hell won't be Mittens or Paul.
No offense, but you're one of Perry's die-hard supporters, so your thinking about this may be colored. If you actually believe in all the things you think Perry stands for, then you need to ask him to step out of the race for the greater good.
No offense taken. I am a die-hard Perry supporter or a die-hard Santorum supporter and I'll hang on until the end. I shouldn't have to settle for a candidate because the numbers aren't there. That's not why I vote.
You just proved my point. If Perry were to bow out this week, you'd shift your support to one of the remaining conservatives in the race. I've already had to shift my own support twice during this contest, as my favored candidates fell by the wayside.
I shouldn't have to settle for a candidate because the numbers aren't there.
Reality's a bitch, isn't it? Truth is, you don't have to settle, but you do have to accept that by staying cemented to one candidate for ideological reasons, you may help to throw the whole horse race to a candidate who's at the opposite end of your ideological spectrum.
That said, I've now been pushed to the wall. There's no further retreat for me. I've only got so much capacity to compromise. If Newt doesn't make it, I'll be requesting a write-in ballot in the general, and voting for Sarah Palin.
If Perry were to bow out this week ,you’d shift your support to one of the remaining conservatives in the race.
Who says? I back Perry because of his executive experience, his military background, and his strong social conservatism. Santorum is an empty suit and I wouldn’t bother voting for him. Gingrich is a loose cannon and is a total mixed bag, but he isn’t running in Missouri. I got nobody left in this race if Perry drops, so I’ll sit out the primary.
If all the non-Romneys could agree on who will bear the standard, Romney would soon be yesterdays news.
If people would think and not fantasize then they would support someone better than a debate winner. Obama MIGHT agree to two debates the rest of the time he is gong to be bashing Newt way more than Romney did. When Romney bashed him a bit, he went into the fetal position. You think that is not going to happen when Obama starts on him. The ONLY way to win this election is with Santorum. Wake up Conservatives!!!! You are making the biggest mistake of your lives if you don’t go with Santorum. You last chance to do it right.
sounds like Santorum is definitely in decline. I suspected this would happen after his disappointing post-Iowa performances.
Wow. So let’s get behind the guy who lost to Santorum. How dumb is this Conservative group of people. Santorum finished number 1 conservative on both states. Why would we want to support a guy with even a lower ranking and delegates. You folks make zero sense.
They might, but I for one will never vote for Gingrich. Period.
I never thought that I would be in the position to vote for a serial cheater who does not give a crap about marriage. Wow! Conservatives have lost the way. Sad to see. Oh but he can beat Obama in debates (roll eyes). Wait until Obama only agrees to two debates. I can see Newt starting his pouting and waving his arms. When Obama starts the bashing of Newt. I believe he will self destruct, go into the fetal position and not no what to do. He did it with Romney why not Obama. I find Newt a HUGE risk. Nobody else seems to agree. I will watch from afar as I am proven right.
I know too many women, and some men who won’t vote for someone who cheated on there spouse.
I know tons of people who take their vows seriously and won’t vote for Newt. I think he is a risk.
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