GOP voters’ level of satisfaction with their choices this year has risen and fallen, as the fortunes of conservative candidates rise and those of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney have slipped. Three weeks ago, after former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s victory in the South Carolina primary, 58% of GOP voters said they were satisfied with their choices; a week later, that dropped to 44%. In this week’s Economist/YouGov Poll (Week of 2/11/2012), conducted after former Pennsylvania Governor Rick Santorum’s triple victory last Tuesday, satisfaction is back up a bit. 49% of GOP voters are satisfied.
Republican voters are quite knowledgeable about the candidates still in the running. Seven in ten know that Rick Santorum had been a U.S. Senator, and even more know something about past offices held by Gingrich and Romney. 82% know Gingrich had been punished for ethics violations, 69% that Romney paid a 15% rate on his income taxes.
Santorum may be the least well-known when it comes to potential liabilities: only 44% of GOP voters know he lost his last Senate election by 18 points, and less than half know he voted for earmarks when he was in the U.S. Senate.
Economist/YouGov poll archives can found here.
Photo source: Press Association
