Santorum supporters are piling on poor old Newt and demanding that he drop out of the GOP primary race.
Some are even accusing the former speaker of playing a “spoiler” role.
I’m not sure that’s fair, Save Jerseyans. Like I wrote yesterday, Santorum can’t win the nomination outright with or without Gingrich in the race. It’s simple mathematics; hard to get around! But today we’re looking at a different kind of numbers to buoy my point: polling numbers. Check out this new poll from Fox News. It’s chock full of interesting nuggets; this particular section, however, stood out for obvious reasons:
Without Rick Santorum in the race, Mitt Romney easily dispatches Newt Gingrich. Remove Gingrich instead, and Romney still wins the primary but by a significantly smaller margin (4%).
So it looks like the myth peddled by many Santorum supporters, that “all Gingrich supporters are diehard anti-Romney voters,” may be completely inaccurate, Save Jerseyans. Or at least overly broad. The Fox poll also found Mitt was the back-up “second” choice for approximately one quarter of primary voters. Michigan should’ve been proof enough of this dynamic since it was essentially a one-on-one match-up between Rick and Mitt.
The moral of the story? Be careful what you wish for, Santorum backers. You might just get it and hate it all the same.
