COMMENTARY | NBC reports that Rick Santorum is essentially tied with Mitt Romney in a new national poll, which was released on Feb. 13. The Pew Research Center poll was conducted on Feb. 8 through Feb. 12, and showed that when it came to registered Republican voters, Santorum had 30 percent of the votes, while Romney had 28 percent of the votes. There is a lot that this new poll shows, and as a Republican voter, here is what I think this will mean for the competition within the Republican Party.
The fact that Santorum has become the latest candidate to become a frontrunner for the Republican Party shows just how divided the Republican Party really is. The anyone but Romney trend has been going on for quite a while, and has basically given every candidate the frontrunner status at one point. Santorum has seemed to surge in the polls based on his performance in Colorado, Missouri, and Minnesota, where he swept the nominating contests. By winning those three states, Santorum was able to prove he is the conservative alternative to Romney, and he also received more financial contributions. While I do not personally see Santorum getting the nomination, I do see that he could force Newt Gingrich out of the race in the near future, especially if the competition stays between Santorum and Romney.
The poll shows that Santorum has the most support among tea party voters, which is an important group of voters to both candidates. Romney has been lacking the needed support among the tea party, and even Gingrich has had some trouble getting tea party support, but that is where Santorum shines. If Santorum can keep building momentum from the tea party, and if more voters that support the tea party swing toward Santorum, then it could spell trouble for Romney down the road. The best thing that Santorum can do at this point is to keep hammering home his fiscal conservative policies, which will help him gain even more support from the tea party, and from very conservative voters.
The poll also shows that both men would lose against President Barack Obama, which is to be expected. The poll shows that Obama would win over Romney by 8 percent and Santorum by 10 percent, which is actually not good news for Obama. I would assume that as time gets closer to the election, more voters are going to either go toward Romney or Santorum, and it will cut the lead that Obama has down significantly. Either way the Republican Party goes, it seems there is still some work to do if the Republican Party wants to reclaim the presidency. This poll also shows that whoever wins the nomination for the Republican Party needs to have support from the other candidates, and the support of the voters.
Myself, Personal Opinion
Mark Murray, “Two new polls: Santorum surges and now ties Romney”, MSNBC