Ohio primary amplifies party divide

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Social conservatives for Santorum: Over 70 percent of Santorum’s votes in Ohio came from social conservatives; in fact, more than half of his voters described themselves as very conservative on these issues. Nearly six in 10 of Santorum’s voters said Romney is insufficiently conservative. And in a sign of potential trouble ahead, 57 percent of Santorum’s backers in Ohio say they’d be dissatisfied with Romney as the nominee; 55 percent of Romney’s supporters say same about Santorum atop the GOP ticket.

Upscale voters: Romney’s competitive showing in Ohio is due in part to increased turnout among wealthier voters. About three in 10 voters had family income of $100,000 or more with about half picking Romney. Rick Santorum ran more evenly with Romney among voters without a college degree or income below $100,000.

Base voters: Romney edges out Santorum among self-identified Republicans in Ohio. But they split more narrowly among independent voters, with Ron Paul picking up more than two in 10. Romney and Santorum split the conservative vote about evenly, with Santorum leading by a wide margin among the “very conservative” and Romney pushing back among “somewhat conservative” voters.

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Michigan mischief continued? Santorum solidly beat Romney among the small number of self-identified Democrats who turned out, forming an odd coalition with social conservatives. The same phenomenon occured last week in Michigan, when some Democrats crashed the Republican primary to vote for Santorum, thinking he would fare worse against Obama in a general election.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/behind-the-numbers/post/ohio-primary-amplifies-party-divide/2012/03/01/gIQA3pWjvR_blog.html

72% reporting:

Rick Santorum 336,052 37.8%
Mitt Romney 329,196 37%
Newt Gingrich 130,124 14.6%
Ron Paul 82,766 9.3%
Other 10,697 1.2%

This primary has been a gift to the Democratic Party. Let's not squander it people.