Sunday, January 1, 2012

The Des Moines Register...

...published its last poll before the Iowa caucuses Tuesday, and the results confirm the rapid rise of Rick Santorum.

Here's a few interesting snippets from the article in the Register (my emphasis):

Santorum, who has been largely invisible in the polls throughout the campaign season, is now beating the other evangelical choices and has a clear shot at victory Tuesday night.
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What makes Santorum’s growth spurt particularly striking is his last-second rise: He averaged 10 points after the first two nights of polling, but doubled that during the second two nights. Looking just at the final day of polling, he was just one point down from Mitt Romney’s 23 percent on Friday.
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Still, the race is fluid, as 41 percent have a first choice but said they could still be persuaded to support another candidate.
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In the new poll, 76 percent of Santorum supporters say they will definitely caucus rather than probably attend, a higher proportion than for any other candidate.

Now, Mitt Romney is still favored to win on Intrade, but before you place your bet, there's one more thing to consider: between now and Tuesday millions of Iowa evangelicals and conservative Catholics will attend church. And what do you suppose they'll be talking about before and after the service? I'd guess the Iowa caucuses. And the Number One question on everyone's lips will be, "What do you think of this guy Santorum?" And people will be saying things like, "I like him; he's against abortion." Or, "I like him; he's against gays." Or -- and this one is really important among some evangelicals -- "I like him; he homeschools his seven children."

So with all this buzz about Santorum in church parking lots today, don't be too surprised if the former senator from Pennsylvania comes in second this week -- or even knocks off Mitt Romney.

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