Fox News Poll: Romney Leads by 25 (National: Romney 40%, Santorum 15%, Gingrich 14%, Paul 13%)

National Review ^ | January 16, 2012 | Robert Costa

[Qbert]

The latest national poll of GOP primary voters:

Romney 40%

Santorum 15%

Gingrich 14%

Paul 13%

Perry 6%

Huntsman 5%

[WestSylvanian]

I don’t know why either of them is staying in. With Gingrich, it’s probably his mammoth ego. Here’s the problem if Romney sews this up. Eleanor Clift, rabid liberal commentator, was on “The McLaughlin Group” program over the weekend. She flat out said that reports are now circulating that the reason Romney is refusing to release his tax returns is that he’s using tax shelters in the Cayman Islands.

Consider this: the elites in the Republican Party who are attempting to shove Romney down our throats will have set up a candidate who cannot possibly win if these rumors are true. A guy who’s worth a quarter of a billion dollars; who brags about giving people pink slips; who talks about how important it is to take on radical Jihadism but who has five sons who have never worn the uniform; and a guy whose record of job growth when he was governor was in public sector jobs is more electable than Santorum?

Romney’s background should be thoroughly scrutinized before he’s crowned. The Republicans aren’t doing it. The Democrats are. We are in for some nasty surprises should Romney be the nominee.

[greyfoxx39]

Note the poll sampled REGISTERED VOTERS. This is the PRIMARY contest.

The poll is based on live telephone interviews with a national sample of 906 registered voters, and was conducted January 12-14, 2012 in the evenings. Landline and cell phone telephone numbers were randomly selected

 

Results among subgroups have larger sampling errors, including:Democrats (n = 367) ± 5% Republicans (n = 356) ± 5%Independents (n = 171) ± 7.5% GOP Primary Voters (n = 365) ± 5%

Link

[gov_bean_ counter]

I believe the only way you get Romney to 40% is if you filter out of the sample for people who are either undecided or not 100% in any one camp.

[grumpygresh]

So now, it looks like we have an awful nominee that is infintely better than ZERO.
YUCK!!!
So that means we have a choice between mananged decline with mittens versus a chaotic, unpredictable implosion with zero.

[TexasFreeper2009]

quote “If Gingrich and Perry would drop out and endorse Santorum, I’d be very happy.”

lol

right. Santorum never led Romney nationally or anywhere, while Gingrich has shown the ability to utterly destroy Romney in the polls.

It's Santorum that should of dropped out along with Bachmann after Iowa. But the media hyped Mr 1% in the week prior to Iowa to hand it to Romney, and they are hoping his frothy media induced surge will last just long enough to hand South Carolina to Romney too.

You are being played. Every without blinders on knows that only Gingrich has a chance of stopping Romney at this point.

[jsdjason]

Mittens is looking more and more inevitable. It’s also looking more and more inevitable that I will vote 3rd party in the general.

[Utmost Certainty]

Eh, the trend over time looks to be a consistent upswing for Mittens.

Pretty sure we’re screwed.

[TexasFreeper2009]

I will not be kept on the RNC plantation, they wanted Romney. They can vote for him, because I sure wont be voting for him or anyone else with a R after their name in November if Romney is at the top of the ballot.

[madprof98]

Forty percent sounds pretty close to what this guy will get when he goes up against Obama—if that much. Right now, I’d say the only remaining hope is a real nominating convention, but getting that would take a miracle.

[Proudcongal]

Fox News. That says it all. We don’t turn on Fox News anymore at my house. They are as in the tank for Romney as MSNBC is for Obama.

[Steelfish]

With this poll, if Romney wins S. Carolina, its all over. We can’t keep burying our head in the sands until we end up with a circular firing squad. Sadly, our conservative friends from Bachmann to Perry siphoned off enough conservative votes to propel Romney into first place. Even Newt should have dropped out (far too much Freddie Mac etc baggage, un-telegenic, losing the female votes in spades, and is so yesterday) as should have Cain if he knew that his past would haunt him. Our talk radio conservatives sat on the fence and yes Sarah Palin stringed us around for so long that other true and tested conservatives stayed out of the race. Deny all you want, this is now the reality.

[Qbert]

" Here’s the problem if Romney sews this up. Eleanor Clift, rabid liberal commentator, was on “The McLaughlin Group” program over the weekend. She flat out said that reports are now circulating that the reason Romney is refusing to release his tax returns is that he’s using tax shelters in the Cayman Islands."

Yep. And even if it isn't true- if he doesn't release them and prove otherwise- the MSM and the Dems will lie and say it's true anyways.

(This thing ain't "over" yet, no matter how much they want to create the impression of "inevitability" for Romney.)

[Michael Barnes]

agreed DD. Turned them on a couple times over the past couple weekends, it was nauseating to listen to.

[Utmost Certainty]

Santorum isn’t going anywhere. He’s playing the part of the spoiler candidate as many predicted he would.

The only way we’d have a fighting chance is if Perry and Santorum dropped.

[Jaidyn]

The GOP might get its man, but will most likely lose it’s base. People will vote for anyone but Obama, but once the election is over, real conservatives will leave the Republican Party in droves. I’m one of them.

[Yaelle]

Yesssss! Go Santy!!!

[JoeProBono]

PLEASE DONATE TODAY

[meadsjn]

From Hot Air:
Fox takes a sample of 906 registered voters (landline and cell), which breaks out into a D/R/I of 41/39/20, which gets a good balance between Democrats and Republicans but oversamples both at the expense of independents. From this, the pollster gets 365 primary voters, which it claims as “likely voters,” even though this is the same subset of Republicans in the sample marked “registered voters.” However, this is the same methodology used in the Fox poll series for the last several months, and about the average for sample sizes on the primary question, so the series can at least be expected to reflect trending.

Why does Fox News include any Democrats in a sample for a Republican Primary election. This is deliberate distortion by Fox News.

41% Democrats? Come on Fox News; you're getting as bad a PMSNBC.

Apparently, Romney's support among Republicans was -1 percent.

[traderrob6]

“It’s also looking more and more inevitable that I will vote 3rd party in the general.”

Brilliant!

[CainConservative]

1. Newt wins SC
2. Santorum and Perry drop out and endorse Newt
3. Newt wins FL (and is our nominee no matter what Willard tries to pull))

If 1, 2, or 3 don’t happen.. then Obama’s second term is assured as he crushes Willard (Obama-lite) in November.

P.S. IF Santorum wins SC, of course Newt would NEED to drop out and endorse Rick. Bottom line is conservatives need a one-on-one versus the liberal from Massachusetts IN FLORIDA.