May is fast approaching, and with it will come the North Carolina GOP primaries. While students on campus still have a few weeks to throw their support behind a Republican candidate, the primaries continue to rage on in other states.
Four Republican candidates remain, each relying on a different strategy. Ron Paul has been playing the delegate game, while Mitt Romney seems to be the favorite to win the nomination, if he could seem more accessible to his voters. Rick Santorum has been playing up the ultra-Christian conservative card, and Newt Gingrich, after scandal erupted when his first wife admitted he had asked her for an ‘open marriage,’ seems to have lost the media’s interest.
While Romney looks like the favorite to win the nomination, Santorum recently swept the Louisiana primaries.
“I’m not running as a conservative candidate for president,” Santorum said following his victory. “I am the conservative candidate for president.”
Though Santorum continues to prove his strength in southern states, many, like professor of political science, Steven Green, believe there should be no reason to expect Santorum will expand his base or challenge Romney as the front runner.
However, the division of the Republican Party around four candidates could be detrimental during the fall elections.
“The long struggle is starting to show the weaknesses in Romney,” Green said.
Romney has been gaining a lot of negative coverage as of late. He has been accused of not being able to connect with his voters or seal the deal on legislative matters. Many voters simply aren’t inspired by him, and the more attacks he gets from his opponents, the weaker he seems.
While Santorum’s reliance on religion in his politics have made many uneasy, it has been helping him secure votes in more conservative states. Some don’t agree with his strategy.
“Honestly I consider myself to be Christian, and I despise that he is using his religion to gain votes,” Krystal Rodas , sophomore in human biology, said. “It is so frustrating because now everyone will compare Christians, or religious people, to him. He just hurt himself and others by saying things like ‘vote for the true conservative.'”
Green states that it’s not so much someone who holds views like Santorum that is a shock, but that he’s doing so well in the primaries.
He compares Santorum to Rick Perry, who withdrew from the race a few months back.
“[Perry] holds views similar to Santorum without being a crusader,” Green said.
In this respect, he believes Perry could have been a viable GOP candidate.
“If it hadn’t been uncovered he’s too stupid for the presidency,” said Green.
“He’s just trying to contrast with Obama, though,” Garrett Tew , junior in mechanical engineering, said. “A lot of people have issues with Obama and his religion. But it kind of works for Santorum , because some voters just want to get back to a more conservative White House.”
Sights now turn to North Carolina, as the May primaries are just around the corner. Many students are already speculating the winner.
“Probably Santorum ,” Tew said. “Romney is a Mormon, and people from the South just don’t really like that. Also, people from the south think Romney is a big flip-flopper, a fake just looking for votes.”
“Let’s be realistic,” Rodas said. “Take N.C . State as a prime example of students who are apathetic towards Student Government. They just grow up and become apathetic about politics in general, and then it’s still all about whose name you hear the most. Even though Santorum is criticized all the time, people will think [the criticism] is just because he’s Christian.”
However, this won’t necessarily be the case in May. Romney has the means and the funds to focus on North Carolina and, according to Green, “If Romney wants to win this state, he will.”
