Rick Santorum

For Romney, What A Difference Four Years Makes

Posted on 04/25/2012 by Election 2012 | Politics | Comments

Bulletin Today | PoliticsMitt Romney’s “favorable” rating has been on something of a roller coaster in 2012. But the more older Republican primary voters have seen him, the more they seem to like him. Romney, who abandoned his 2008 quest for the Republican presidential nomination soon after Super Tuesday, has been doing better among 50-plus voters in the GOP primaries this year, according to exit polls. With few exceptions, Romney improved his standing among 50- to 64-year-old Republicans as well as Republicans 65 …

Santorum — For Whom the Bellwether Tolled

Posted on 04/10/2012 by Election 2012 | Politics | Comments

Bulletin Today | PoliticsAs older Republican primary voters go, so went Rick Santorum’s presidential campaign. Santorum, who suspended his campaign Tuesday by conceding the “race for us is over,” did well in primary states only when he did well among voters 50 and older — especially voters on the cusp of retirement age. According to the exit polls, Santorum’s finishes in individual primaries almost always mirrored how he did among voters aged 50 to 64. He took his biggest shares of 50- to …

As Voters Age, Does the Gender Gap Shrink?

Posted on 04/4/2012 by Election 2012 | Politics | Comments

Bulletin Today | PoliticsThe latest meme from the campaign trail is the gender gap. This week, just about everyone — from CNN and the Christian Science Monitor to the Huffington Post and Salon — has been reporting that women are more likely than men to favor a Democrat over a Republican in the 2012 election. It’s a familiar story: Women have favored Democratic candidates for at least three decades. The news seems to be that there’s some evidence of a bigger gender gap than …

With Older GOP Voters Behind Him, Romney Goes Three for Three

Posted on 04/4/2012 by Election 2012 | Politics | Comments

Bulletin Today | PoliticsMitt Romney swept the primaries in Wisconsin, Maryland and the District of Columbia — and he has older voters to thank for it. In both Wisconsin and Maryland, voters age 50 and older made up a bigger share of the GOP primary electorate than they did in 2008. And exit polls in both states (no exit polling was done in the D.C., where Rick Santorum wasn’t even on the ballot) indicate that the older the voter, the more likely they …

The End Is Near . . . Again

Posted on 03/27/2012 by Election 2012 | Politics | Comments

Bulletin Today | PoliticsIf you’re running President Obama’s re-election campaign and you want to test how certain themes will play in Peoria, what to do? Turn to your pollsters? Convene focus groups? Test your message before a friendly audience? All of the above, probably. But if you’re smart, you won’t have your candidate do the on-the-ground testing. You’ll have a surrogate do it. That way, you can smooth out any rough edges — either in how the message is delivered or how it …