Santorum is the Winner in Louisiana
Rick Santorum won the Louisiana Republican primary last weekend, capturing almost half of the primary votes cast. The result continues trends from the last few Republican primaries.
Recent Trends Continue
As in the earlier primaries in Alabama and Mississippi, Santorum’s campaign message resonated strongly with Southern voters. The Louisiana result—Santorum captured 49 percent of the vote to Romney’s 27 percent—gave Santorum an even greater margin of victory than in the Alabama and Mississippi primaries held on March 13.
Other trends continued. Santorum continued to out-poll Romney in the rural South, while Romney’s strength lay in the urban areas. Louisiana’s results demonstrate this trend.Romney’s only victory was in the area around New Orleans County, where the capital city of New Orleans is located.
Exit Poll Data
An in-depth look at exit poll data shows several factors that separate Santorum supporters and Romney supporters. Voters who have an annual income of $200,000 or more supported Romney. Born-Again or Evangelical Christians preferred Santorum over Romney, as did those voters who reported attending religious services on a weekly basis. For those who say the religious beliefs of the candidates is not a strong factor in who they support, Romney held a slight edge over Santorum. But for those who say that the candidates’ religious affiliation is important, Santorum was the clear winner.
Exit polling did yield one bit of good news for Romney. When asked which Republican candidate has the best chance at defeating President Obama, Romney gets 50 percent of the votes, compared to Santorum’s 30 percent. Still, when asked which candidate is the “true conservative” and which one possesses strong moral character, Santorum easily comes out on top.
Despite the favorable response to Santorum, Mitt Romney continues to lead in the number of delegates. He netted five of Louisiana’s delegates, pushing his total estimated delegate count to 568. Santorum trails by a significant number with an estimated 261 delegates. The next contest is Saturday, March 31, in Arizona.
