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The Spectacle Blog
Here’s a big question that the exit polls don’t quite answer: Who are the Rick Santorum Democrats? Are they liberal mischief-makers, social conservatives in the mold of the Reagan Democrats, or some combination of both?
In Wisconsin, 11 percent of the voters who participated in the open Republican primary identified as Democrats. Santorum won this group by 20 points, taking 44 percent to Mitt Romney’s 24 percent and Ron Paul’s 19 percent. Newt Gingrich got just 5 percent. Independents voted 38 percent for Romney, 34 percent for Santorum, and 21 percent for Paul. Santorum came within three points of Romney among the plurality of voters who identified themselves moderate or liberal, taking 33 percent to Romney’s 36 percent. Those are relatively high numbers for someone running as a conservative insurgent against the Republican establishment choice.
In Maryland, the numbers were more along the lines of what you’d expect. Only 2 percent of the Republican primary voters identified themselves as Democrats. The independents broke 40-25 for Romney, with Paul in third with 21 percent. The moderate to liberal voters went 48-22 for Romney, with Paul taking 16 percent.
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More Blog Posts by W. James Antle, III
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/04/04/the-rick-santorum-democrats
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John Thacker| 4.4.12 @ 1:24PM
Maryland is a closed primary, though you can change your registration at the gate IIRC. So the lower percentage of Democrats makes sense.
Derek Leaberry| 4.4.12 @ 3:25PM
Furthermore, the Maryland Democratic Party has very few conservatives or even moderates. The Eastern Shore conservative Democrat is a dying breed. Buying beer at Baker's Liquor the other day, involuntarily retired Delegate Wheeler Baker(elected in 1994 and 1998, defeated in 2002 by Dick Sossi) proclaimed that he was ashamed of what the Democratic Party has become. What is left of the old blue-collar German and Polish urban Democrats have either departed to the suburbs, gone white-collar and left the city behind, or have become prols and submerged with the black urban underclass.
W| 4.4.12 @ 2:21PM
These are Dems that want to see a convention fight and prolong the primaries so Romney spends money now instead of against Obama.
Mender| 4.4.12 @ 10:17PM
Agreed. Did you hear Romney shut down his NH offices to fund the campaign against Santorum?
corvair| 4.4.12 @ 3:01PM
In Wisconsin, with all the union activity, I would guess 90 to 100% went for Santorum. They want the weakest candidate.
Bill| 4.4.12 @ 3:18PM
Santorum voted against the "Right-to-Work" law and that showed his "true-color."
Steve in Ohio| 4.4.12 @ 3:40PM
The Dems that voted for Santorum most likely perceive him to be a weaker candidate and/or want to keep the GOP's selection process going as long as possible. Pay back for the Republicans that voted for Hillary in 2008.
Anommynous| 4.4.12 @ 4:56PM
Didn't seem to hurt Obama.
Simon Templar| 4.4.12 @ 5:28PM
Open public primary? That is the issue that apparently the stupid party just can not seem to grasp.
What also seems to not be graspable for many here and ANTLE THE THIRD is not whether Santorum should stay in, drop out, or who is voting for him but rather if Romney, who will likely be the nominee, is capable of beating Obama.
The guy that you made inevitable needs to be vetted; it would be better to focus on him rather than Santorum at this point, if you care about actually winning.
Why has no one been interested in how Romney is performing in his campaign efforts to confront Obama? Well, he certainly is good at raising funds and creating a barrage of negative commercials against his fellow Republicans. Is this the strategy for Obama. Is that all he has?
Just how will he perform in the great debates with Obama. Is he up for it?
Mender| 4.4.12 @ 10:30PM
True. I don't see how Romney will convince at the debate stage. However, we're stuck with him and annoyingly I honestly think trying to fight it would cause even more trouble. The GOP has a chance with Romney. It has no chance at all if it sets its heart on Santorum.
Les| 4.4.12 @ 7:57PM
Dane Co.almost went to Santorum. Democrats voted for him.
Cpm| 4.4.12 @ 8:01PM
Wisconsin doesn't have any discernable voting requirements or safeguards, so my guess is mischief-makers. You can step off a plane and vote in Wisconsin the same day.
Oldefarte| 4.4.12 @ 10:06PM
ST, a writer for Braitbart gave a major shout-out to ''''''SIMON TEMPLAR'''''' for supplying needed information on a subject today I think....was that you perhaps? If so, congrats!
Oldefarte| 4.4.12 @ 10:17PM
PS: I'm not against vetting Romney or any other candidate. I'm solely concerned with whats best for the country as a whole [especially me] and it should be in everyone's best interest to vote for the most qualified. Santorum IMHO is not that candidate and never will be. Others attempt to compare this to Reagan's come from behind status previously, but Santorum is no Reagan and far from it. To attempt such a comparison is wastefully insane. He's a nice religious guy no doubt but never POTUS material. This nation is dying and will not survive another Obama term, as he/Democrats will destroy it, it's that simple! Everyone should be concerned with who best can manage/administer as someone with proven business credentials, and I think the best shot is with Romney. The question is can he do the job that we the taxpayers will hire him to do and i think yes. Certainly not Rick unless the job is as the Catholic Pope!!!!
PM| 4.5.12 @ 12:19PM
Santorum is the last New Deal FDR-Truman Democrat left. That's one of the main reasons I like him.
Steve in Ohio| 4.5.12 @ 1:16PM
You have a point. Like FDR and Truman, Rick seems to be into big government programs and bombing foreigners!