CBS News exit polls show that the supporters of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in Michigan are more excited about his candidacy than voters who went for former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, even though Santorum is seen as the more conservative challenger to Romney, the establishment candidate. From CBSnews.com:
While the polls leading up to Tuesday have shown a tight race in Michigan, the CBS News early exit polling shows that Romney’s supporters so far are more enthused about their candidate than Santorum’s supporters are: 53 percent of Romney’s Michigan supporters say they strongly favor him, while 37 percent have reservations about him. Nearly eight in 10 Romney supporters in Michigan say they will definitely support the Republican nominee in the fall.
By comparison, 39 percent of Santorum’s Michigan supporters say they strongly favor him while nearly one in five say they are supporting the former senator because they dislike the other candidates. Fewer Santorum supporters say they will definitely back the GOP nominee in November.
(Emphasis ours.)
