Mitt Romney has already begun hinting at a third presidential run. File Photo by UPI/Kevin Dietsch. |
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WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- According to a new poll, the majority of self-identifying Republicans in the United States hope to see Mitt Romney on the ballot in 2016. According to a new CBS News Survey, some 59 percent of Republicans want Romney to make a third bid for the White House.
The sentiments of the public seem to differ slightly from the opinions of party leaders and top donors, however. Factions of the Republican Party are at odds over another potential Romney campaign, with some higher-ups suggesting it would be unwise to hitch their wagons to a candidate already twice defeated on the national stage.
But only 26 percent of polled Republicans feel the same, making Romney the politician Republicans are most enthusiastic about. Second most popular, according to the CBS poll, is Jeb Bush. Half of all Republicans said they'd like to see Bush throw his hat in the ring.
Nearly as many Republicans wan't Chris Christie to do the opposite. Some 50 percent of those polled want Christie to stay out of the race.
Increasingly, it looks like those same six out of ten Republican voters who want to see Romney (part three) may get their wish. The former Massachusetts governor and 2012 presidential nominee hinted that he's strongly considering a third consecutive bid for president.
Interestingly, the former Bain Capital CEO appeared to position his potential candidacy as one that would focus on the widening economic gap between the rich and poor in the United States, telling attendees at a Republican gathering in San Diego last week that poverty would be one of his three main talking points.
"I don't understand the angle that he's taking," one anonymous Romney supporter told the Los Angeles Times. "I don't understand why it's one of his top three talking points. I'm still trying to sort that out on my own."
Regardless of talking points, Tea Party darling Ted Cruz thinks Romney -- on any other so-called moderate -- would be a mistake for Republicans' chances of taking back the White House.
"If we nominate another candidate in the mold of [1996 nominee] Bob Dole or [Arizona Senator and 2008 nominee] John McCain or Mitt Romney," Cruz told the audience at the South Carolina Tea Party Convention on Sunday, "the same people who stayed home in 2008 and 2012 will stay home in 2016 and the Democrats will win again. There is a better way."
