Romney wins support from a wide swath of Republicans, no matter their top issue, the poll says. | AP Photo
By DAN HIRSCHHORN | 5/26/11 6:20 PM EDT Updated: 5/26/11 6:27 PM EDT
Mitt Romney is the candidate who’ll be able to build a Republican coalition, but no one does better than Sarah Palin on connecting with GOP voters on social issues, according to a new Gallup poll.
Romney wins support from a wide swath of Republicans, pulling 16-18 percent regardless of whether their most important issues are government spending, the economy, national security or moral values.
Palin has even stronger support among Republicans who put a premium on moral values — 23 percent of them back the former Alaska governor — but that’s about the only segment of the electorate that picks her.
The poll also found former Godfather’s Pizza executive Herman Cain outperforming Tim Pawlenty among all constituencies.
Government spending and power remains the most important issue for Republicans, with 36 percent identifying it as their key concern. Business and the economy follow at 31 percent, and only 15 percent of Republicans pick social issues as their most important, according to the poll.
The national survey of 971 Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, conducted May 20-24, has a sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/55805.html#ixzz1NVhrHK2F
