Poll: Romney, Santorum fare similarly vs. Obama
Ex-senator calls nomination fight a ‘positive thing’
Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum, scrambling for traction against front-runner Mitt Romney in the Wisconsin primary today, got a little good news in a USA TODAY/GALLUP Poll of swing states. The former Pennsylvania senator fares almost as well against President Obama as Romney does in the nation’s 12 top battleground states, which include Wisconsin. Santorum trails Obama by 11 percentage points, 41%-52%. Romney trails the president by 9 percentage points, 42%-51%.
In a nationwide race, Romney does a bit better than Santorum, trailing Obama by 4 points (45%49%) while Santorum trails him by 8 (43%-51%).
Santorum might not celebrate these results because the poll also shows Republican voters by double digits are ready to back Romney over him.
If the GOP race narrowed to the two men, Republicans and Republican-leaning indepen- dents in the swing states say they would prefer the former Massachusetts governor as their nominee, 57%-39%.
Nationwide, that gap widens a bit to 57%-37%.
At the moment, there are still two other candidates in the race. Former House speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Rep. Ron Paul are still running, though they are a distant third and fourth in the polls and the delegate count.
Campaigning Monday in Ap- pleton, Wis., Santorum argued that Republicans should want him to contest the nomination all the way to the August convention in Tampa.
“That’s a positive thing for activating and energizing our folks heading into this fall election,” he said.
Meanwhile, Romney campaigned in Milwaukee and Green Bay with Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan by his side.
Romney’s camp said it hopes that a victory in the winner- take-all contest in Wisconsin, as well as in Maryland and District of Columbia primaries today, will fortify his lead in delegates and convince his primary rivals that the time has come to unite behind him.
That argument seems to be working, says Charles Franklin, a political scientist who runs the Marquette Law School Poll. “Romney is leading among moderates, conservatives and among those who call themselves very conservative. For Romney to be ahead with these groups is further evidence the party in this state is coalescing behind Romney,” Franklin said.
On Monday, Romney inched up to 572 delegates, according to the Associated Press count — precisely half of the 1,144 needed for nomination. Santorum has 273, Gingrich 135 and Paul 50.
In the USA TODAY survey, Romney does better than Santorum among male voters, leading Obama by 1 percentage point while Santorum trails Obama by 6 points among men. Santorum does a little better than Romney among women, although both Republicans face a huge gender gap. Among women, Santorum trails Obama by 15 points, and Romney trails by 18.
“Poll after poll indicates that Rick Santorum does better among women voters than Romney and is part of our narrative as to why Rick Santorum is more viable in November against Obama,” Santorum strategist John Brabender said.
The Swing States Poll of 933 registered voters was taken March 20-26 in 12 battleground states: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.
The separate nationwide poll of 901 registered voters was taken March 25-26. Each survey has a margin of error of +/–4 percentage points.