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
I’m going to laugh when you morph into the guy who urges everyone to vote for Romney over Obama in the general election.
“Santorum has a better grip on foreign policy than Newt.”
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL! YOU get a grip. All Santorum can do is parrot Gingrich.
Rick Santorum said in a speech this past ten days that we must ‘compromise’ with Muslims.
God warns us NOT to compromise with evil, lest we become evil ourselves, and Muslims must, per the Koran, kill nonbelievers. It is impossible to compromise with zealots.
Rick isn’t the brightest candidate, but some of the stuff he says is just plain empty, period.
If Newt comes in 2nd or 3rd in both Alabama and Mississippi, then he should admit that his souther strategy has failed, meet with Santorum and devise a methodology whereby he can immediately join with and support Santorum’s campaign.
The two desperately need to come together to solidfy the conservative base vote and then move forward to lock up the nomination...at least to have a chance to do so. Divided and plitting the vote that have no such chance.
The GOP Presidential Primary Tracker
http://www.jeffhead.com/GOPTracker.htm
Not so fast in Alabama. Newer poll posted shows Myth in first and Ricky tied with Newt.
Posted Here:
You're talking about the Bible Belt here. Language like that doesn't win friends for Gingrich.
I had a long talk today with a local Republican official in which I said that I can live with Gingrich, but I'm seriously concerned that a Gingrich nomination will enable an anti-Christian secular spirit in the Republican Party that acts as if it wants to turn the GOP into a European-style conservative party which favors free markets, law enforcement, the military, and nationalist issues, but opposes a role for religion in the public square.
I do not believe Newt Gingrich wants a secular conservative future for America. In fact, I think Newt Gingrich may want a new crusade in favor of Western Judeo-Christian civilization against Islamofascist tyranny. I like many things that Gingrich stands for, and while I voted for Santorum, I believe that a conservative Christian can vote for Newt Gingrich in good conscience if that person believes Gingrich is the best candidate to defeat President Obama.
However, quite a few of Gingrich's supporters are harming his case. People who say things like what you said only antagonize the Christian conservative movement within the Republican Party.
I believe Gingrich knows better than to do that. I wish his supporters did as well.
You know nothing.
Gov.Mitt Romney is the candidate for the elitist Republicans who are, in essense, supporters of Globalism.
Wall Street’s business model is international in scope and must have security overseas in order for commerce to thrive. In an attempt to dominate international commerce AND the monetary structure, the U.S.A. must project military strength world wide. This is neither conservative nor liberal in orientation and both Democrats and Republicans have been involved over the decades.
The only thing that matters to Republican Globalists is making money for themselves. They don’t give a damn about the rights of individuals. The common man or woman on the street is just a “unit” to be taxed or obliterated, it matters not to them.
The last thing they want is for conservatives with Bibles and guns asserting their God-given rights and demanding that Washington, D.C., changes how it does business.
Senator Rick Santorum made big bucks selling his ability to get legislation passed for the Globalists above. For the past month I’ve been researching this man and he is not the staunch conservative he wants all of us to believe.
Ron Paul is a shill for Romney. Many Texans are embarrassed now, as they believed Paul’s lies.
Only Newt Gingrich has promised to change how Washington, D.C., does business.
The U.S. is $16 TRILLION DOLLARS IN DEBT. The five major banks in this nation are holding European debt instruments valued at $250 TRILLION DOLLARS. When, not if, those debt instruments default, those five U.S. banks will collapse, and you can kiss the money in your bank account goodbye. Neither Romney nor Santorum have a plan on how to get us out of debt.
Newt Gingrich does, and it involves this nation becoming energy independent. He laid it all out in a speech to Republicans in San Francisco, February 26, 2012.
I strongly suggest that people backing Santorum here on Free Republic deeply research Rick Santorum. When he first ran for Congress he claimed to be pro-abortion and posed as the anti-Reagan.
Yes sir, but you do not understand it at all! You are the one mixed up and backward!
If you don’t have liberty, period, you have nothing. To fight for freedom, to fight for your life, is to already be free. As for the lives of the unborn, nothing can be done unless adults are free.
There will be no taking care of any children, or children of the future, if liberty from government tyranny is not first secured.
I've raised this question on a different thread and didn't get a direct answer.
Palin’s close-but-not-quite endorsement of Gingrich is important. It shows that someone with solid evangelical Christian credentials is a supporter of Gingrich.
I wish someone on the Gingrich campaign would start explaining why Palin supports their candidate instead of the identified social conservative candidate. It's possible that explanation doesn't exist in print or electrons. If it does exist, I think it would carry weight with a lot of Freepers.
I have my guesses about why Palin supports Gingrich — they seem to share a very similar anti-establishment philosophy and background, and I can respect that. But that's only a guess.
Thank you for the wonderful post.
Look what would happen if Rick got Newt’s votes:
Newt would also make a good POTUS, but he only won two contests, and Newt should face facts, and drop out.
For forty years the Democrats held power. The Republicans occasionally were thrown a bone, given cover and some pork to keep their constituents quiet. Meanwhile the congress was enriching themselves at the expense of the nation. The centralized government kept growing and growing…
In 1980 Ronald Reagan is elected President. Newt Gingrich, elected in 1978, jointed with others to ally with President Reagan and build the Reagan Coalition, the Religious Right, and the Republican majority - the Reagan Revolution - which directly led to the downfall of the Soviet Union, the Contract with America, government reforms, less government, tax cuts, a balanced budget, and the great, long-standing Reagan economy
Gingrich becomes Speaker of the House and the Democrats went nuts due to budget cuts and less pork. For the first time in a very long time the Republicans actually had to govern and take responsibility, something none of them had ever done before.
The 1998 budget was scheduled for a $1 Billion cut and congress saw the gravy train leaving the station. No more getting rich at the public’s expense.
So it became “get rid of Newt Gingrich” even to the extent of manufacturing lies about him. Sen.Rick Santorum was in the thick of all this. Those phony ethics charges that were ALL dropped, but the media continues to smear him year after year after year.
“...After only four years with his Party still in power, his own members forced him out...”
Oh yeah, and many of those Republicans are still in Congress. They are part of the ongoing problem of business as usual in Washignton, D.C. Under a Republican president, they added over $3 trillion to the federal deficit, shunned conservative policy in favor of Beltway influence-peddling, and so damaged the GOP brand that we lost the majority Gingrich had worked years to forge.
Do you really think I give a damn that Newt’s fabulous colleagues think his reemergence would be a disaster for Republicans? No. The elections of 2010 were NOT a merit promotion; the Republicans were the only alternative in town!
Washington is broken, it doesn’t work the way it is supposed to and Newt said, if elected, he will work to change the way Washington does business. You better believe the elitists who suck money off of government contracts are terrified he will be elected.
Go check Santorum’s voting records. He was one of those polticians who was paid by special interests for getting those lucrative government contractrs passed through Congress.
It is delegates that count. Santorum has won empty victories, devoid of delegates in many cases.
Romney has the most delegates.
If Newt drops out, we can change that.
Newt isn’t going anywhere. He has more delegates that Santorum.
See who likes Rick:
http://votesmart.org/candidate/evaluations/27054/rick-santorum
2005 Republican Liberty Caucus – Economic Liberties Score 90%
2004 Republican Liberty Caucus – Positions 87%
2003-2004 Campaign for Working Families – Positions 100%
2003-2004 Concerned Women for America – Positions 100%
2005 American Conservative Union – Positions 92%
2003 Concerned Women for America – Positions 100%
2003 Eagle Forum – Positions 87%
2003 National Journal – Conservative on Economic Policy Score 82%
2003 American Conservative Union – Positions 90%
Newt does lead Santo in hard delegates. The same can be asked about Ricky - drop out.
Sorry, I will not be helping Rick Santorum out with even a penny, and probably not a vote either. I have tried really hard to like him, I really have. I have listened closely and often. Sorry, he does not have ‘it’, and will not win either the nomination or the general election. And don’t give me this pious crap, I am a social conservative and pro lifer. I am an evangelical Christian and love Jesus. The man is just not a tier One candidate for President of the United States. Don’t get crazy on me Mitt Romney isn’t either.
http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P12/
“Hard” Delegates
Need to Nominate 1,144
(available)1,762
W Romney 302
N Gingrich 96
R Santorum 79
Uncommitted 29
R Paul 16
J Huntsman 2
Total 2,286
It will depend on how many millions of $$ Romney is willing to spend on lying advertising against Santorum.
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