Skip to main content
Sojourners
faith in action for social justice
Sojourners
About
About SojournersEventsOur TeamWork With UsMediaWays to GiveInvite a SpeakerContact Us
SojoAction
OverviewTake ActionIssue AreasResourcesFaith-Rooted AdvocatesChurch Engagement
Magazine
Current IssueArchivesManage My SubscriptionWrite for Sojourners
Sections
LatestPoliticsColumnsLiving FaithArts & CultureGlobalPodcastsVideoPreaching The Word
Subscribe
MagazineRenewPreaching the WordCustomer ServiceNewsletters
Donate
Login / Register

Poll Digest – What We Are Being Told About What We Think (This Week, at Least)

By Jack Palmer
Feb 15, 2012
Share

Two new polls have been released this week that have caught the eye – one from The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and the second from Rasmussen. Both show shifts in the number of people supporting GOP Presidential Candidates Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, and some rather large shifts at that.

Published today, Rasmussen’s national survey gave former Pennsylvania Senator Santorum a 12-point lead over Mitt Romney, who served as Governor of Massachusetts 2003-2007. Santorum is shown to be polling at 39 percent (of likely Republican voters) and Romney coming in second with 27 precent.

In a head-to-head match-up between this week’s frontrunners, Rick Santorum is shown to be performing even better. 55 percent of likely GOP primary voters said that they would vote for him if Mitt Romney was the alternative – 34 percent said that they would vote for Romney. For the full report, visit Rasmussen’s report here.

According to Pew’s polling, there is now clear distance between Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney in the race to win the coveted support of White Evangelical voters. The latest poll shows that 41% of White Evangelical Republicans registered to vote support the former Senator, while 23 percent support Mitt Romney, just ahead of the 20 percent who support former front-runner (and former House Speaker) Newt Gingrich. Santorum also leads the field amongst White Catholic Republicans, while Romney is favored by White mainline Protestants who identify as Republicans.

Looking towards November’s General Election, Pew’s polling identifies leads of 8 percent and 10 percent for President Obama over Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum respectively. However, the Republican candidates still have strong support from White Evangelicals – with 76 percent supporting Romney over Obama and 74 percent supporting Santorum in a similar match-up. Around one in five white evangelicals support President Obama over potential Republican candidates. A full examination of Pew’s polling can be viewed here.

With two weeks before the next round of primary contests, expect to see more polls trying to predict who will be leading the GOP into the Presidential election in November.

Jack Palmer is a communications assistant at Sojourners. Follow Jack on Twitter @JackPalmer88.

Got something to say about what you're reading? We value your feedback!

Tell Us What You Think!

We value your feedback on the articles we post. Please fill out the form below, and a member of our online publication team will receive your message. By submitting this form, you consent to your comment being featured in our Letters section. 

Please do not include any non-text characters, such as emojis or other non-standard content, into your submission.  It may cause errors in submitting the form.  Thanks!

Don't Miss a Story!

Sojourners is committed to faith and justice even in polarized times. Will you join us on the journey?
Confirm Your Email Address.
By entering your email we'll send you our newsletter each Thursday. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Search Sojourners

Subscribe

Magazine Newsletters Preaching The Word
Follow on Facebook Follow on Bluesky Follow on Instagram Subscribe to our RSS Feed
Sojourners
Donate Products Editorial Policies Privacy Policy

Media

Advertising Press

Opportunities

Careers Fellowship Program

Contact

Office
408 C St. NE
Washington DC, 20002
Phone 202-328-8842
Fax 202-328-8757
Email sojourners@sojo.net
Unless otherwise noted, all material © Sojourners 2025