Alabama, Mississippi Too Close To Call
Public Policy Polling took surveys in both of Tuesday’s big primary, and found the race as tight as a drum in both:
Tuesday looks like it’s going to be a close election night in both Mississippi and Alabama. In Mississippi Newt Gingrich is holding on to a slight lead with 33% to 31% for Mitt Romney, 27% for Rick Santorum, and 7% for Ron Paul. And Alabama is even closer with Romney at 31% to 30% for Gingrich, 29% for Santorum, and 8% for Paul.
Gingrich and Santorum are both more popular than Romney in each of these states. In Mississippi Gingrich’s net favorability is +33 (62/29) to +32 for Santorum (60/28) and +10 for Romney (51/41). It’s a similar story in Alabama where Santorum’s at +32 (63/31), Gingrich is at +26 (58/32), and Romney’s at only +13 (53/40).
The reason Romney has a chance to win despite being less popular in both states is the split in the conservative vote. In Mississippi 44% of voters describe themselves as ‘very conservative’ and Romney’s getting only 26% with them. But he’s still in the mix because Gingrich leads Santorum only 35-32 with them. In Alabama where 45% of voters identify as ‘very conservative,’ Romney’s at just 24%. But again he remains competitive overall because his opponents are so tightly packed with those voters, with Santorum at 37% and Gingrich at 31%.
There have been suggestions over the weekend, particularly by Nate Silver on Twitter, that polling in both of these states may not be entirely reliable regardless of which company is doing it. We’ll see. For the moment, though, it looks like Romney is at least competitive in two Southern states, something that he supposedly wasn’t capable of and, with Santorum and Gingrich splitting the conservative vote, this may be enough for him to eke out narrow victories. If that happens, the logic for either of his opponents to continue becomes even more tenuous.
