Rasmussen: Santorum up 4 in Tennessee

Hotair ^ | 03/05/2012 | Ed Morrissey

[SeekAndFind]

Yesterday morning, I discovered that few pollsters have bothered with the Tennessee primary. Real Clear Politics only lists five polls taken this year, despite Tennessee having 58 delegates at stake in a proportional primary for tomorrow’s Super Tuesday contest. Not too long after I checked, Rasmussen published its survey for Tennessee, showing Rick Santorum with a narrow four-point lead over Mitt Romney:

Just two days before Super Tuesday, the Republican primary race in Tennessee has become a two-man competition between Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum.

The first Rasmussen Reports survey of Likely GOP Primary Voters in Tennessee shows Santorum attracting 34% of the vote, while Romney earns 30%. Polls from other firms have previously shown Santorum with a large lead in the state.

That trend would be consistent with Rasmussen Reports polling in other states. InOhio, Santorum was up by 18 points two weeks ago, but the Buckeye State is now a tossup. Nationally, following his victories last Tuesday in the Michigan and Arizona GOP primaries, Romney has opened a 16-point lead over Santorum. Earlier, he had trailed by 12.

Actually, the RCP list shows a decidedly mixed and competitive race in Tennessee. PPP put Santorum up by five points yesterday, while WeAskAmerica polled over a thousand likely TN voters and shows Romney up by one in a virtual tie. However, Rasmussen is correct that earlier polls in February showed Santorum with large leads — eighteen points from a Vanderbilt poll of 815 registered (rather than likely) voters, and 21 points from a Middle Tennessee State University survey of just 196 adults.

This is another survey with some surprising results in the demographics. Santorum has a four-point edge among both men and women in Tennessee, which negates the “gender gap” issue mentioned by the media, at least in the primaries. The age demos are a mixed bag for Santorum. Romney wins the youngest and oldest voters (30/25 among 18-39YOs, 34/28 among seniors) while Santorum wins middle-age voters in between, 39/28. Santorum wins Republicans 37/29, while Romney wins independents by three, 30/27.

How will late-breaking voters decide? Among voters who are basing their choice on matching values, Santorum wins 42/20 over Romney. Those who prioritize beating Obama break 41/27 for Romney. That’s close to a mirror image, but Santorum has a slight edge between those two positions. However, beating Obama has a slight edge overall among the respondents over value matching, 48/43, which means that this is pretty much a wash.

Eric Ostermeier offers an analysis of previous contests to argue that Santorum may have an edge that polling misses:

A Smart Politics review of more than 40 polls leading up to the primaries and caucuses in 11 states thus far in the 2012 election cycle finds that Rick Santorum’s vote total has eclipsed his polling numbers by an average of +4.7 points per state – more than any other candidate.

Smart Politics examined the difference between the vote received on primary or caucus day and the average support measured by pollsters conducted within a week of the contests across the 11 states in which surveys were available: Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida, Nevada, Minnesota, Colorado, Missouri, Michigan, Arizona, and Washington.

Overall, Santorum received an average of +4.7 points more on the day of the primary or caucus contest than what he registered in those states’ latest surveys.

Ron Paul was the only other candidate whose average vote in the contests was higher than his average polling numbers (+1.1 points), with voting percentages for Mitt Romney nearly even with the polls (-0.6 points) and votes for Newt Gingrich -2.3 points worse than survey averages.

Unlike in Ohio, it appears that Santorum will not have a problem getting his proportional allocation of delegates despite some issues with getting enough qualified delegates in place. A narrow win in Tennessee will still be a win, and its 58 delegates make this a contest worth watching tomorrow.

[SeekAndFind]

Santorum always leads in the beginning, only to have Romney catch up in the end.

He was leading in Michigan and look what happened.

Santorum was leading in Ohio and now latest polls have Romney up.

[frogjerk]

I want a conservative as the standard bearer but someone please get rid of Obama! He is killing us.

And George Will, you defeatist, please SHUT UP!

[CainConservative]

So Newt is splitting the conservative vote with Rick AGAIN, folks.

Tennessee Republican Presidential Primary

March 6 58 Delegates | 2008 Tennessee Results: Huckabee +2.7%

Poll Date Santorum Romney Gingrich Spread

RCP Average 3/3 - 3/4 — 32.3 29.7 24.7 Santorum +2.6

WeAskAmerica 3/4 - 3/4 29 30 29 Romney +1

PPPolling 3/3 - 3/4 34 29 27 Santorum +5

Rasmussen 3/3 - 3/3 34 30 18 Santorum +4

[bmwcyle]

Rush has said that a liberal'a failure on enhances a their resume.

[deport]

A couple of other post Rassmussen polling.

Tennessee Republican Presidential Primary

March 6 (Proportional Primary) 58 Delegates | 2008 Tennessee Results: Huckabee +2.7%

Polling Data

Poll	Date	Sample	Santorum	Romney	Gingrich	Paul	Spread
RCP Average	3/3 - 3/4	--	32.3	29.7	24.7	9.3	Santorum +2.6
WeAskAmerica	3/4 - 3/4	1023 LV	29	30	29	12	Romney +1
PPP (D)	3/3 - 3/4	525 LV	34	29	27	8	Santorum +5
Rasmussen Reports	3/3 - 3/3	750 LV	34	30	18	8	Santorum +4

See All Tennessee Republican Presidential Primary Polling Data

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

Like Michigan, Rasmussen had Santomonious up by 4 the day before the primary, and if Santo had not pandered to 9% of his votes to crossover (tampering) Democrats, he would have lost by over 12%.

Just listening to Santorum brag about himself, and talk on and on about little to nothing, would turn any non committed voter off.

[CainConservative]

Fox News reporting now that Santorum being outspent 6:1 to 8:1 across Super Tuesday states by Romney.

So why is Willard so afraid of CONSERVATIVES???

Anyone know?

[deport]

See All Tennessee Republican Presidential Primary Polling Data

Should be:........

See All Tennessee Republican Presidential Primary Polling Data

[CainConservative]

So how much is the Romney camp paying you for your spin?

[Georgia Girl 2]

Its basically a 3 way tie in TN at this moment. Newt is surging and Santorum is fading.

[newzjunkey]

In TN, Santorum was at 40% on the 25th. He's bled 6-10 points depend on the polling.

In a flip from Michigan, early voters probably favored him but election day voters may (hopefully!) make another choice.

I don't think it's a clear pattern as much as the timing is all grouped so these are part of his having hit a peak and still looking for bottom. I suspect he'll bounce again.

[trappedincanuckistan]

Newt supporters hate Rick
Newt supporters are helping Romney
Newt supporters are for Romney
Newt supporters are being paid by Romney

Rick Santorum supporters: Winning over hearts and minds since never.

I smell desperation. Santorum supporters are more inept politically than the Santorum campaign. They won’t win anyone over this way.

Go Newt!

[TennTuxedo]

My wife and I are voting Newt.

[trappedincanuckistan]

God bless. Thanks for supporting Newt.

[CainConservative]

Whatever. Enjoy winning one state tomorrow.

What is that then? A whopping two states out of the first 23 contested.

How’s that splitting the conservative vote working out for you HARDCORE Newtonians?

You do know that Romney’s ultra-liberal camp is counting on your foolishness.

[trappedincanuckistan]

Has Rick even won a primary, or just caucuses where there were few if any delegates and hardly anyone showed up to vote?

Please tell us how Rick plans to defeat Romney tomorrow when he doesn’t have committed delegates in Tennessee, or a full slate of delegates in Ohio?

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

You remind me of a little ankle biting, dog. But sooner or later, you are going to get a big kick from some of the bigger dogs on this forum, if you don’t learn some respect.

[Antoninus]

Well, millions of dollars in negative advertising that blatantly lies will do that. Romney is taking advantage of the fact that many people haven't been paying attention to this point. The outrageous thing is that his lies are pure transference--he's saying about Santorum what is absolutely true of him.

Disgusting.



Santorum for President ping. Let me know if you want on or off the list.

Top 10 Reasons why Conservatives should support Santorum

16 Reasons Why Mitt Romney Would Be a Really, Really Bad President

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

[You do know that Romney’s ultra-liberal camp is counting on your foolishness.]

LOL! Santorum invites and relies on Democrats, tampering with our Primary, to help him win!

Not only is that pathetic AND Liberal, it shows how your hero has to resort to desperate measures to win. Even more sad is the fact that the Democrats are hoping Santorum wins, so they can have an easy win for Obama. If you had even half a brain, you would look outside of the capsule you are a prisoner of and learn that what most of us are saying, is true.

[Mariner]

"Please tell us how Rick plans to defeat Romney tomorrow when he doesn’t have committed delegates in Tennessee, or a full slate of delegates in Ohio?"

Or the fact that he won absolutely ZERO committed delegates in his so-called Trifecta win? Absolutely ZERO committed delegates in those beauty contests.

In fact, Missouri will caucus to select their delegates later this month...MN and CO next month.

Santorum has not won a single primary. Not one.