Tim Kiska: Santorum Leads Romney In Latest Statewide Polls
By Tim Kiska
So we mentioned only a few weeks ago that Michigan's February 28 presidential primary was taking on the appearance of a Mitt Romney coronation.
Maybe not.
A new survey by Public Policy Polling has Romney trailing Rick Santorum by a 39 percent – 24 percent margin. The survey was taken this weekend among 404 likely Republican primary voters. (Check it out here).
The survey shows conservatives and evangelicals lining up behind Santorum, as they abandon former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Romney is running strong in his native Oakland County, while the rest of the state falls in the Santorum column.
But one number is potentially troublesome for Romney: Only one in four of those polled consider Romney a Michigander. (His father, of course, served as Michigan governor between 1963 and 1969, when he left to join then-President Richard Nixon's cabinet.) The Public Policy number would indicate that, while the analysts think of Romney as a Michigan guy, the natives don't necessarily agree.
Another survey this weekend by American Research Group has Santorum up with a 33 percent-27 percent margin. The New York Times Nate Silver projects that, at the moment, Santorum has an 80 percent chance of winning the Michigan race.
Public Policy's Tom Jensen is careful to point out that voter attitudes change on a dime.
And there are a lot of dimes strewn in the path between now and February 28.
