Iowa Republicans Not as Hot on Rick Santorum This Time Around

According to a new poll from the Des Moines Register, Iowans have cooled to the idea of Rick Santorum for President since 2012.

According to a new poll from the Des Moines Register, Iowans have cooled to the idea of Rick Santorum for President since 2012. Santorum beat Mitt Romney in the last Iowa caucus, and he's made a bunch of visits to the state this year in preparation for 2016. But according to the new poll, only 48 percent of Iowa Republicans think he should run again. That's in comparison to the 67 percent who'd like Rep. Paul Ryan to run, and the 65 percent who think it's a good idea for Mike Huckabee to jump in the race.

This isn't exactly a surprise — Santorum isn't a new candidate, so of course there's going to be less excitement surrounding his plans. Politico's Mike Allen put him in the "one last gasp" group when he categorized GOP 2016 candidates in February. Still, Santorum had a strong showing at CPAC, and will undoubtedly compete in the primary. Back in January, during a speech before the March for Life, he said he's "certainly very open" to running. "The fact is, we have a good track record of success and we think we have something to say that’s different than others," he continued. 

He repeated some variation of that argument at CPAC this past weekend, chastising Republicans for nominating John McCain and Mitt Romney, "candidates who keep apologizing for the principles that they say they believe in, and then they lose." Santorum has visited Iowa constantly, clearly hoping that the state will launch his campaign like it did in 2012. Later this month, Santorum will help Des Moines congressional candidate Matt Schultz on the campaign trail. Iowa may not be excited about Santorum, but Santorum sure is excited about Iowa.

At the very least, Santorum continues to have the support of Foster Friess, a GOP mega donor who helped fund his 2012 campaign. Unfortunately, Friess is up to his old bad messaging. In a radio interview Friday, he linked gay marriage to "out-of-wedlock births" and murder. (Friess famously advocated for Bayer aspirin as an effective method of birth control during the 2012 campaign. "The gals put it between their knees, and it wasn’t that costly," he explained.)

Funnily enough, another new poll (from Pew) shows that 61 percent of young Republicans support gay marriage. To capture the excitement of those folks, Santorum will need to get Friess to tone down the rhetoric a bit.