Posted on 02/14/2012 6:47:22 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Consider this a corroboration of Gallup and Pew, both of which have recorded a surge for Rick Santorum that makes him the national frontrunner — if not in each state. The CBS/New York Times poll shows Santorum gaining 14 points in a single month, eclipsing Mitt Romney by three points (still within the MOE), whose support stayed virtually unchanged from January. Almost all of the gain comes at the expense of Newt Gingrich, who dropped to fourth place behind Ron Paul among Republican primary voters:
Rick Santorum has pulled slightly ahead of Mitt Romney in Republican primary voters’ preference for the presidential nomination, a national CBS News/New York Times Poll shows.
Ron Paul is now in third, followed by former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.
Among self-described conservative voters, the shift has been fairly dramatic. A month ago in this poll series, conservatives were equally split between Romney, Gingrich, and Santorum at 25/25/24 respectively. Now, however, Santorum’s support in this demo has risen to 38%, while Romney has remained steady at 24% and Gingrich dropped by about half to 12%. The same thing has happened to Tea Party support and evangelicals. The dynamic seems to be a movement away from Gingrich and a consolidation among conservative voters behind Santorum as the alternative to Romney, at least for now.
There are a few things to note about this poll, however. This is a poll of registered voters, not likely voters, which is not as predictive a model and is a curious sampling choice in the middle of the actual primary voting. These results come from a larger survey, most of whose results will be announced later. The overall sample was 1,064 registered voters, but only 331 of those planned to vote in a Republican primary. At least a few of those will be independents rather than Republicans, so the partisan split of the overall survey is likely to be highly skewed to Democrats. That doesn’t matter for these results, but a sample of 331 registered voters for a national poll is on the small side. Keep that in mind.
Now that Santorum has become a legitimate force in the race, he’s getting some attention from the usual suspects. Member of Occupy Tacoma tried to crash a Santorum event, and Politico reports that Santorum responded by calling them agents of “true intolerance”:
Filling the front row at the Washington State History Museum where Santorum spoke, a group of Occupy protesters disrupted the event, forcing Santorum to engage them. Occupy Tacoma, the local branch of the Occupy Wall Street movement, is camped out right next to the museum, and advertised Santorum’s visit on its web site.
“I think it’s really important for you to understand what this radical element represents, because what they represent is true intolerance,” Santorum said, after two protesters were taken to the ground and placed in handcuffs by police.
The protesters, Santorum suggested, “instead of standing here unemployed, yelling at somebody” should instead “go out and get a job.”
Santorum’s supporters roared their approval, chanting “get a job” back at the Occupiers.
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then …
In my case, I shifted 6 weeks ago.
I went from Cain. To political Wilderness. To RICK SANTORUM.
Glad I did and haven't looked back a bit!!
Here’s kind of a cool endorsement for Santorum from Dave Mustaine, founder of Megadeth. Mustaine is one of us.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2846591/posts
A humorless Bush reincarnate.
I was hoping for something new, something substantial, something inspiring.
McCain got only 43% of the female vote. How much do you think Newt would get? Be honest, most American women simply do not think like you.
“The GOP was walking on sunshine in 1994 and failed to win the WH in 1996, so anything can happen, unfortunately.”
The difference is the economy and the deficit and the disaster in the Middle East. As long as we nominate a Republican that will point out stuff like that, we’ll clean up. If we (again) nominate a shoe licker, we’ll may lose...but I’m not even sure of that.
“We have to be careful for what we wish for on this one. The polls I’ve seen show Obumwad with a 70+% personal approval rating, and just over 50% job approval. “
I hear you, but I still say it will be a cakewalk, providing that we PLAY OFFENSE (which is often asking a lot of Republicans). Much of Obama’s support came from white guilt - that guilt is OVER.
During the average day nobody thinks with their neither regions more than men.
LOL Mary.
Maybe Rick’s Sweater vests can have their own website or FB page. :-)
Definition: a sleeveless knitted garment worn as a buttoned or pullover vest
Example: Sweater vests were big in the 1970s.
Etymology: 1903
1970s? We like ‘em now.
I’m sorry you don’t see that your little fun facts are ANECDOTAL at best, and that you argumentative style is annoying.
I was thinking the same thing. As soon as BO brought up the free contraceptives crap, I knew he was up to something-it was so out of the blue. That’s his MO. He likes to catch people off guard with a straw dog.
Now, on the other hand. Nothing a conservative says to Dick Gregory is going to play well. The outcome is already determined. Chris Wallace- I’m a little more concerned but anyway, Santorum OR Newt OR Gingrich is more right than wrong and I hope the Holy Spirit will intercede and save them from themselves by Nov!
Fine.
But Gingrich and Santorum supporters need to stop firing at each other.
Beat Romney.
And go from there.
I see, so all the things the Newt supporters have said about Rick Santorum was not ?
But Gingrich and Santorum supporters need to stop firing at each other.
AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!
Santorum is Bush I in a sweater vest- extremely timid & weak, and is easily flustered and agitated when confronted. Sadly, this does not play well on t.v. He’s already being successfully labeled as a right wing religious fanatic who will take away your contraception. He does not know how to handle the media, and will easily be destroyed by them. His macaca moment is coming.
Newt on the other hand is more conservative than Little Ricky, isn’t afraid to stick it to Obama and the media, and has bold plans to take our country back from the socialists. Yes, he’s had 3 wives- I don’t care. He’s clearly our best chance to win against Obama.
Nonetheless, Rick Santorum is leading nationally, and recent polls in both Michigan and Ohio have him on top in both states.
AND, he has a great chance to turn very blue Pennsylvania to the right side.
We must not ignore the strengths of Santorum just because he isn’t our preferred candidate.
There is no way that Santorum is Bush I. He might have a streak of Reagan Democrat in him, but that puts him in the company of Zell Miller and Ronald Reagan.
As I said, he has an 80% rating from ACU and he did that from a very, very blue state and still managed to win 2 senatorial and two house elections.
Santorum is getting on my nerves recently. Especially his goofy family behind him at CPAC.
“His support of Arlen Specter ... I chalk this up to ‘being a loyal party guy’”
He’s explained his support of Specter. It was in exchange for Specter’s promise to vote for conservative SCOTUS nominees — which he did. Possibly Toomey would’ve done the same thing; I don’t know.
The issue of future SCOTUS appointments is huge in this election. Seems that Santorum and Gingrich would select the best candidates. Paul is a whack job and nobody knows what he’d do. Romney had to meet with a coach to tell him what conservative buzz words to use in speeches and debates, and that says everything we need to know about him. The dolt didn’t even have a clue that saying we should raise the minimum wage wouldn’t sit well with conservatives. That’s basic for a conservative; how could he not know that?
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