Two new snap polls of Michigan show that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney may have received a small bump in the Republican primary from his performance in Wednesday night’s CNN debate. Romney gets 36 percent in the new poll coducted completely on Thursday commissioned by Michigan Information & Research Service, and 40 percent in a new Rasmussen poll done at the same time, giving him the lead in both. Santorum is down three in the Mitchell poll and six in the Rasmussen, as his momentum in the state may have subsided.
“Romney’s lead seems to have solidified after real volattility over the past two weeks. Romney has made big inroads with conservatives over the past ten days: Santorum’s 16% lead among Tea Party voters has been erased and he is now tied with them; his 16% lead with Evangelical Christians has now been cut in half to 8%, and Santorum’s 31% lead with self-identified conservatives´ has now been cut to 13%. Romney had to persuade fiscal and social conservatives that he was more conservative than they thought he was. He also had to persuade them that Santorum was not as conservative as Santorum said he was. Romney seems to be accomplishing both those tasks,” Steve Mitchell, president of Mitchell Research & Communications, Inc. said in a release.
Rasmussen wrote in their analysis that the favorability ratings of Santorum and Romney have generally remained the same, but Romney is simply looking a bit better to GOP voters. “Perhaps more significant is the fact that Santorum has lost the enthusiasm advantage he held earlier,” Ras wrote. “On Monday, 33% had a Very Favorable opinion of Santorum. Now, that’s down to 27% and little different from Romney’s 25%.”
The current TPM Poll Average shows Romney passing Santorum in Michigan based on the new polling.
