Santorum has lead in RCP poll average – Doubles support in 10 days

Well, he almost doubled support in 10 days. The Real Clear Politics GOP poll average has former Sen. Rick Santorum ahead of former Gov. Mitt Romney but within the margin of error.

So far we’ve had polls giving the nod to Rick Perry in September, Herman Cain in October, Newt Gingrich in December, Romney in January and now Santorum is showing some strength. The Real Clear Politics average of the most recent five polls has Santorum up by 1.6 points. The most recent CBS News/New York Times poll has Santorum up by 3 points.

Even though many may not be happy with the choices available to them, I don’t think you could argue the party has not been vetting the candidates.

Ed Morrissey writes.

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.

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Steve McGough

Steve's a part-time conservative blogger. Steve grew up in Connecticut and has lived in Washington, D.C. and the Bahamas. He resides in Connecticut, where he’s comfortable six months of the year.

16 Comments

  1. stinkfoot on February 14, 2012 at 10:00 am

    Seems almost like the GOP candidacy is a sort of “hot potato” that no one wants.



  2. Tim-in-Alabama on February 14, 2012 at 10:34 am

    Go Ricky Baby.



    • Lynn on February 14, 2012 at 12:07 pm

      Have formerly left Newt’s campaign, Go Rick
      ?



    • johnboy111 on February 14, 2012 at 3:41 pm

      ditto’s to that



    • crystal4 on February 15, 2012 at 9:50 am

      “Herd” mentality.



  3. Murphy on February 14, 2012 at 12:04 pm

    I agree Steve , if nothing else the public vetting demonstrates the transparency others just talk about.
    Also I believe that most true conservatives are like myself and just hang the phone up when the pollsters call.



  4. NH-Jim on February 14, 2012 at 12:22 pm

    No one can deny that this primary race has NOT been exciting in its unpredictability.



  5. liz2012 on February 14, 2012 at 3:23 pm

    Rick Santorum could be the “flavor of the month” in terms of an alternative to Romney but the larger issue is that there continues to be a growing dissatisfaction with Romney among those in the conservative base.? I recently heard a liberal commentator state there is just nothing lovable about Mitt Romney and this does appear to be true at least in terms of his presentation.? He simply does not have the connection with people that some of the other GOP candidates have had.? What I really think Romney lacks is authenticity.? He is trying to be someone he is not.? Instead of saying he is “severely conservative” it would have been far more accurate for him to say he is making a severe effort to try to come across as a true conservative.? I am hoping that increasing numbers of voters will put their support behind Rick Santorum as he is someone who is far more inherently conservative than Mitt Romney.
    ?



  6. ricbee on February 14, 2012 at 8:20 pm

    “Among self-described conservative voters” that’s what RINOs call themselves,Romney’s 25% He never had any support among real conservatives except for a few Obama haters.



  7. Plainvillian on February 14, 2012 at 10:04 pm

    Next New York Times headline:? When did Rick Santorum stop beating his wife?



    • Lynn on February 15, 2012 at 8:35 am

      They do not need any ideas for their fiction.



  8. crystal4 on February 15, 2012 at 6:14 am

    But Romney won the CPAC straw poll…CPAC! Hmmm… proof money can buy anything.
    Just read where Romney started attack ads against Santorum yesterday.? No coincidence that anyone who has led Romney has crashed and burned. No doubt Romney’s campaign is furiously digging up anything they can about Santorum.
    I really think the government needs to look into hiring all his people after November for the FBI.



    • Lynn on February 15, 2012 at 8:39 am

      Yes, and that is why President Obama needs millions in campaign donations. He hit an all time record in campaign funds in 2008. And he raised the money to do what??



  9. JBS on February 15, 2012 at 8:35 am

    The fix was and is in. We are going to get Romney as the GOP candidate. Like it or not. Probably the only ones who really want him are the Dems. I have? never heard anyone say that they like Romney as a candidate.
    Do you really believe the polls? Don’t they seem just a little too tailor made?



  10. Anne-EH on February 15, 2012 at 9:51 am

    What fix? Still too early to tell. Wait until the next primaries.



  11. zedgar2 on February 15, 2012 at 1:02 pm

    If Newt stumbles badly in Arizona and Michigan and fails to raise money, he could drop out and endorse Santorum.? But that would make Newt pretty much irrelevant in the upcoming months a la Bachmann & Cain and Newt’s ego won’t allow that. It’s more likely that even without money, Newt will plow on hoping to either get back within striking distance or to pick up enough delegates to be a king maker at a brokered convention. I don’t think Mitt would win at a brokered convention and Santorum might not either. It could get very interesting.



square-rick-santorum

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