As the GOP presidential race continues, a new poll finds that six in 10 Republicans would like Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul to abandon their White House bids. The CNN/ORC International poll finds Mitt Romney leading Rick Santorum, 36% to 26%. That's a change from mid-February, when Romney and Santorum were essentially tied after the former Pennsylvania senator swept the Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado contests.
Gingrich and Paul are both more than 10 points behind Santorum in the new poll.
Both candidates say they are staying in the race, despite calls by top Republicans such as Jeb Bush to unite behind Romney, the GOP front-runner. Asked whether candidates should stay or go, 60% of Republicans in the poll say Gingrich should drop out and 61% say the same for Paul.
By comparison, 39% say Santorum should quit.
"Republican women are particularly supportive of Santorum continuing his bid for the White House," CNN Polling Director Keating Holland told the PoliticalTicker blog. "More than two-thirds of the GOP women interviewed said that they wanted Santorum to stay in the race, compared to only 51% of men."
Keating said the poll also shows Romney would benefit the most if Gingrich and Paul were to leave the race. Romney's lead over Santorum would grow to 15 percentage points without Gingrich and 19 points without Paul, he said.
Poster Comment:
sigh...