© 2024 WRTI
Your Classical and Jazz Source
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Monday's Political Grab Bag: Romney, Santorum Tied In Michigan

Rick Santorum and daughter, Elizabeth, greet supporters during a Davison, MI campaign rally.
Eric Gay
/
AP
Rick Santorum and daughter, Elizabeth, greet supporters during a Davison, MI campaign rally.

On the eve of Tuesday primaries in Michigan and Arizona, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum appeared to be tied in the Great Lakes state though the former Massachusetts governor likely had the momentum and looked to be significantly ahead in the southwestern border state.

NPR's Ari Shapiro reported on Morning Edition that as important as a win in Michigan is to Romney who was born and raised in the state, Romney was in Florida part of Sunday trying to raise money to replace the cash his campaign was quickly burning through as it tried to beat back Santorum's surge.

A new USA Today/Gallup poll suggests that the Affordable Care Act, the landmark health-care legislation President Obama signed into law in 2010, is more unpopular in some battleground states than in the nation overall.

Meanwhile, new polls give conflicting views of whether Obama re-election chances were improving. The aforementioned USA Today/Gallup poll had Obama and Romney in a statistical dead heat, with the former Massachusetts governor at 48 percent and the president at 46 percent support.

A Politico/George Washington University poll, showed a completely different picture, however. Obama had a 53 percent approval rating and double digit leads over potential GOP rivals Romney (10 percentage points) and Santorum (11 points).

Republican governors in the nation's capital to attend the National Governors Association meeting suggested that their party would be better off if its presidential candidates got away from social issues and back to talking ceaselessly about the economy and jobs.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Frank James
Frank James joined NPR News in April 2009 to launch the blog, "The Two-Way," with co-blogger Mark Memmott.