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Romney holds small lead nationally [See Palin results in poll]
Public Policy Polling ^ | March 21, 2012

Posted on 03/21/2012 11:19:14 AM PDT by greyfoxx39

PPP's newest national poll finds that Mitt Romney leads with 34% to 31% for Rick Santorum, 20% for Newt Gingrich, and 9% for Ron Paul. But if Gingrich dropped out Santorum would have a small lead with 41% to 40% for Romney and 11% for Paul.

46% of Republican primary voters actually do think it's time for Gingrich to drop out, while 42% think he should continue on. 48% of his supporters would go to Santorum, while 33% would pick Romney. Gingrich dropping out being worth 4 points to Santorum is also what we found on our Illinois poll over the weekend- it would be a boost to Santorum, but not necessarily a game changing one.

A deeper look at the favorability numbers for the two front runners shows two campaigns headed in opposite direction. Romney's net favorability of +19 (54/35) is up 18 points from our national poll in February, a sign of increasing acceptance with the GOP base. Santorum is actually more well liked than Romney with a net favorability of +29 (59/30). But his numbers are headed in the wrong direction, a 13 point drop from his lofty +42 (64/22) standing a month ago.

Romney has much more solid support than either Santorum or Gingrich. 61% of his supporters say they'll definitely vote for him, compared to 48% of Santorum's and 45% of Gingrich's who express that sentiment. Among just voters whose minds are totally made up Romney's lead expands to 12 points at 42-30. It's a little remarkable that as long as this race has gone on, only 53% of voters say they're firmly committed to a candidate right now.

The talk of a brokered convention never seems to die down and one interesting finding on this poll was that Sarah Palin is far more popular than any of the actual Republican candidates in the race. Her net favorability is +48, with 68% of voters rating her favorably to only 20% with a negative opinion. That compares favorably to +29 for Santorum, +19 for Romney, and -26 for Paul.

Palin is someone GOP delegates might be able to unify around in the case of a hopelessly deadlocked convention. She is seen positively by Gingrich voters (85/7), Santorum supporters (80/10), and Romney ones (57/27) alike. That's a contrast to Romney who is disliked by both Santorum (38/48) and Gingrich (32/54) voters and Santorum who is disliked by Romney (38/48) voters and only seen narrowly favorably by Gingrich (46/42) backers.

One other side note after the Puerto Rico primary was in the spotlight over the weekend- only 22% of Republican primary voters support Puerto Rican statehood, while 49% are opposed to it and 29% have no opinion.

Full results here



TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: brokeredconvention; gingrich; gop; obama; palin; palin2012; primaries; republicans; romney; santorum
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
My dream is a brokered convention where amongst the chaos you start to hear.


21 posted on 03/21/2012 12:10:59 PM PDT by McGruff (Newt Gingrich, the closest thing we've got to Sarah Palin.)
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To: Steelfish
It’s time to admit that Gingrich has been a saboteur.

I suggest you watch your language. And maybe do a little work on your own personal veracity, when it comes to honest postings, before you start positing who is costing whom what... because had Santorum gotten out in Florida, things would be much different now, and Newt would have eaten obama's and mitt's dinners, big time.

22 posted on 03/21/2012 12:12:06 PM PDT by true believer forever (If Newt is good enough for Sarah, he's good enough for me!)
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To: greyfoxx39

The most significant thing you guys are not pointing out is that Sarah is more popular than all of the current candidates in the Party


23 posted on 03/21/2012 12:15:16 PM PDT by Bigtigermike
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To: greyfoxx39
...one interesting finding on this poll was that Sarah Palin is far more popular than any of the actual Republican candidates in the race. Her net favorability is +48, with 68% of voters rating her favorably to only 20% with a negative opinion. That compares favorably to +29 for Santorum, +19 for Romney, and -26 for Paul.

Palin is someone GOP delegates might be able to unify around in the case of a hopelessly deadlocked convention. She is seen positively by Gingrich voters (85/7), Santorum supporters (80/10), and Romney ones (57/27) alike. That's a contrast to Romney who is disliked by both Santorum (38/48) and Gingrich (32/54) voters and Santorum who is disliked by Romney (38/48) voters and only seen narrowly favorably by Gingrich (46/42) backers.

Sarah...still significant after all these months :) In spite of the Rombama Smear machines.

24 posted on 03/21/2012 12:16:15 PM PDT by Jane Long (Soli Deo Gloria!)
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To: greyfoxx39

+19 for Romney,
__________________________________

Sarah 19 points ahead of Willie Mitty...

some days a guy cant get a break...

Purty hair and all...


25 posted on 03/21/2012 12:27:55 PM PDT by Tennessee Nana (Why should I vote for Bishop Romney when he hates me because I am a Christian)
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To: Bigtigermike

Candidates not actually making the effort to run for an office often tend to have a better “favorability” rating.

Also, this is a PPP Poll. Didn’t we all used to dismiss them as a Lefty group?


26 posted on 03/21/2012 12:35:26 PM PDT by magritte (Gladys Knight: Mormon Siren?)
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To: magritte

Another catty woman.....sheez!


27 posted on 03/21/2012 12:39:23 PM PDT by Bigtigermike
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To: greyfoxx39

Sad fact is true conservatives are becoming an endangered species. Thought the Tea Party would make a difference in this election but they are not strong enough or united enough...the gopE wins again.


28 posted on 03/21/2012 12:50:19 PM PDT by katiedidit1 ("This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever." the Irish)
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To: Bigtigermike

And I’ll bet you’re not so big either.

I’m not a woman, dumbo. Also not a Palin fanboy like yourself. I actually have some grasp of political reality.


29 posted on 03/21/2012 12:59:29 PM PDT by magritte (Gladys Knight: Mormon Siren?)
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To: greyfoxx39; All
Time for the barnburners to enter the picture.

Politically -- historically -- the barnburners were a segment of the Democrats (1830-1850) who wanted to burn the barn down because of the need to get rid of the rats among the Democrats...(Of course, now that party is TOTALLY infested with them...perhaps because they failed to do that then)

The GOP needs a barnburning...the rats need to go

30 posted on 03/21/2012 1:30:05 PM PDT by Colofornian ( Tell us: Why do we want to vote for ONE socialist to defeat ANOTHER socialist again?)
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To: Why So Serious

“Something better HAS to show up.”

I totally agree. I would LOVE for Sarah to enter the race and shake things up. She generates more enthusiasm than Romney, Santorum, Gingrich and Paul COMBINED!

Back in October 2008, I attended the campaign rally she held in Springfield, Missouri. I was in line and waited 5 hours to hear her speak. 30,000+ people showed up. It was an exciting time!


31 posted on 03/21/2012 1:38:11 PM PDT by wk4bush2004
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To: greyfoxx39

She’s dead Gibbs


32 posted on 03/21/2012 1:41:53 PM PDT by bert (K.E. N.P. +12 ..... Crucifixion is coming)
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To: true believer forever

Okay, you don’t like the word sabateur. How ‘bout spoiler? ..cuz that’s what he is.


33 posted on 03/21/2012 2:00:48 PM PDT by Mountain Mary ("This is OUR country and WE will decide"... Mark Levin)
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To: katiedidit1

“Sad fact is true conservatives are becoming an endangered species.”

There is not agreement on what constitutes a “true conservative.”


34 posted on 03/21/2012 2:41:37 PM PDT by truth_seeker
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To: Bigtigermike

AMEN


35 posted on 03/21/2012 3:31:05 PM PDT by Friendofgeorge (SARAH PALIN 2012 OR FLIPPIN BUST)
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To: luvbach1

Demonization, to work, has to have total control of the conversation. Else it backfires among thinking people. I don’t put much stock in any poll, but anecdotally I can tell you the Palin smear job has not stuck. Yes, there are those who will believe and promote any lie that hurts a good conservative. But there are also many good people who understand what a smear job is and are willing and able to see past it, if only the truth is presented to them. I think Palin would come out of the gate much stronger than most of the nay-sayers realize. But that is an empirical experiment whose time has not yet come.


36 posted on 03/21/2012 5:23:09 PM PDT by Springfield Reformer (Winston Churchill: No Peace Till Victory!)
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To: greyfoxx39

Thanks - pretty interesting stuff,especially the Palin numbers!


37 posted on 03/21/2012 5:34:46 PM PDT by leapfrog0202 ("the American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of personal discovery" Sarah Palin)
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To: truth_seeker

Prime example is Newt Gingrich.


38 posted on 03/21/2012 7:38:09 PM PDT by katiedidit1 ("This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever." the Irish)
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To: Springfield Reformer
[Re a Palin candidacy:]But there are also many good people who understand what a smear job is and are willing and able to see past it, if only the truth is presented to them.

I hope so.

39 posted on 03/22/2012 9:06:50 AM PDT by luvbach1 (Stop the destruction in 2012 or continue the decline)
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To: wk4bush2004
The key to a candidate being successful is that they have "inspire" people to come out and vote. Kennedy did, Reagan did, Clinton did, Bush II did, Obama did. 75% of voters don't vote. Winning is about inspiring your stay-at-homes to come out. Palin by far would inspire more people to come out than Romney and/or Santorum.

I believe that without Palin on the ballot in 2008 McCain would have taken a clubbing. Palin is the one who made that the race it was.

We will see!

40 posted on 03/22/2012 9:07:23 AM PDT by Why So Serious (There is no cure for stupidity!!!)
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