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
That's stupid. Just plain stupid. I said nothing that would lead a logical - oops, that's the problem - I said nothing that would lead a logical person to that conclusion. RS will not be hated because of the MSM . RS will be hated because of RS. Sorry, I'm just the messenger. He simply is NO REAGAN. Ability matters to a lot of people. Too many GOP primary voters are just check box analysts - they look at the issue check box and don't factor in anything else. Sad.
One needs to factor in the fact that people in Alabama hate Georgia.
This poll has a margin of error of +/- 30%; in other words it’s worthless.
Funny how the Vest bots forget that RS has spent far more of his time and money attacking Newt than Romney. Selective Memory can be a convenient tool sometimes for the willfully ignorant.
A bit of advice, if you do not mind it. You should really look at each of those votes a bit more. For example, at least one of the immigration votes was an add attached to SCHIP funding. Another was an amendment that was voted down by most of the GOP because McCain offered a stronger one. As soon as the first amendment was voted down, McCain withdrew the stronger one. You should also look at the budgets passed by Gingrich’s House. How many of these same things are in his budgets?
Don’t you dare quote Reagan, he of the eleventh commandment, when all you do is post negative crap.
Go to KOS. They’ll love your Newt there.
Santorum on taxes; Pretty liberal voting record.......The same for Welfare. (Well hypocritical to be exact, not to mention his love for Earmarks.)
Santorum on Taxes:
Voted against a flat tax.
Voted to increase tobacco taxes to pay for Medicare prescription drugs
Voted to increase tobacco taxes to fund health insurance subsidies for small businesses.
Voted to increase tobacco taxes to pay for an $8 billion increase in child healh insurance.
Voted to increase tobacco taxes to pay for an increase in NIH funding.
Voted twice for internet taxes.
Voted to allow gas tax revenues to be used to subsidize Amtrak.
Voted to strike marriage penalty tax relief and instead provide fines on tobacco companies.
Voted against repealing the Clinton 4.3 cent gas tax increase.
Voted to increase taxes by $2.3 billion to pay for an Amtrak trust fund.
Voted to allow welfare to a minor who had a child out of wedlock and who resided with an adult who was on welfare within the previous two years.
Voted to increase taxes by $9.4 billion to pay for a $9.4 billion increase in student loans.
Voted to say that AMT patch is more important than capital gains and dividend relief.
Santorum, the life long lawyer and politician (doggone, don’t hear that fact mentioned much, do you) - shows his total economic ignorance with this pander to the unions and the manufacturers with his flawed tax plan.
Now frankly, it will never happen, even if he is elected. But it does demonstrate both his lack of understanding of economics and his propensity to pander to unions and to use big government tinkering.
But wait? Unions? Big Government? But but but rikkie is the true conservative in the race, right? /s
LOL @ me! I need to learn to proof read...esp when I'm telling someone else they posted something dumb. Dope! (me).
EAGLES UP!!!! In full support of Alabama, Mississippi and Kansas sweep by Rick Santorum, as well as a challenge in Michigan over the GOP Establishment there play little games and switching rules AFTER the primary and taking a delegate away from Santorum. Every delegate counts and also a clear message must be sent to the state GOP parties (establishment, RINO-oriented in many states) that the grassroots will NOT COUNTENANCE THAT KIND OF STUFF!
You continue to prove that you are in a different intellectual strata than I care to dabble in. I tried to have an adult conversation with some common ground you and I had on Heninger's assessment, but you are not able to play on a level I choose to stay on. Bye.
On this site, you can bash Rick Santorum as much as you like. Most have already concluded who they support so continue on day and night. What you SHOULD be doing is trying to figure out a way to get people voting to vote for Newt. That is Newt’s main problem. He is having a hard time getting people to vote for him. So go ahead and bash Santorum because it is helping Newt so much.
Ok you’re a big poopy head. See,,, I can insult you too,, just like third grade!
Now, do you have an actual disagreement with a fact,, or not? Has Ricky endorsed Romney in the past? Did Ricky explain his Spectre betrayal by telling us that he was a team player? So I can explain why I think what I said. Its you who needs to improve your posting technique,,,, sport.
Well afterall, you have to admit, you posted week old data that is now the opposite of today’s reality, and tried to claim it was a “new” Poll.
So, in regards to “proof reading”,.........just sayin’.
Oh good grief! Newt underperformed terrificly on Tuesday! He won GA. Big deal...even someone as deaf, blind and out of touch as Helen Keller's ghost knew he was going to win GA. No one will be swayed by that. The fact that he DIDN't win TN or OK will be a lot more persuasive.
“Cut the spam crap.”
Here is a better question.
Did he lie on any of those? Or has Rick now reached Obama level adulation where that stuff is now verboten?
With that undecided, that’s about it isn’t it. That’s funny.
How to get newt supporters to understand this?
I totally agree on that.
And Newt has a far better pro-life record than Rick.
some say that we should have no debates now but after that last debate then I can understand why they don’t want them.
Took one for the team was an insight to how he governed and how he will and he and Romney looked small and pathetic.
Now to Santorum’s defense it seems Romney brings everyone down to his level and like Newt said it is hard to debate a man who just lies all the time.
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