He’s barely a blip in the latest polls, but please don’t ask Rick Santorum to leave the presidential race.
He’s not going anywhere even if Donald Trump thinks he should.
Speaking on CNN Thursday, Santorum dismissed the latest Fox News Poll that shows him and several others below 1%. He says such national polls, which have been used by networks and Republican Party leaders to determine who should appear on prime-time debates, are flawed because nominees are picked state by state, not in one national election.
And even though a poll of likely Iowa Republican Caucus voters released Oct. 23 shows Santorum with only 2% support, the former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania points to the 78% who have yet to make up their mind.
“This is a wide open race right now,” he told Wolf Blitzer on CNN. “Anything can happen, and the idea that we’re going to start culling candidates or creating top tiers and bottom tiers which is what he national party and the networks have done to me is a travesty to this election.”
Trump, who is leading in most polls, disagrees.
“Do I think it’s time to have some of the other Republican candidates drop out? Yes. There are too many people,” he said recently. “If a person’s been campaigning for four or five months and there at zero or 1 or 2%, they should get out.”
Santorum won 11 states in 2012, including Iowa, before losing to eventual nominee Mitt Romney. So don’t expect him to go away any time soon.
“Four years ago, I was at 2% in the national polls the week before I won the Iowa caucuses,” he said. “I always say the most important thing to do is to get the start line and so far a couple of folks (former Texas governor Rick Perry and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker) haven’t. Our intention is to get there and we feel very comfortable once we do we’ll be fine.”
About the Author
