Why Michigan Voters Hate Romney And Santorum

There were no primaries this week, so in light of that I’m going to preview what is coming up next, and why it could pose such a challenge to the frontrunners. The next two primaries are Michigan and Arizona, both on February 28^th. Michigan has a delegate count of 30, while Arizona has a delegate count of 29, so both are reasonably sized in that respect. At this point in the race, Santorum continues to hold the lead, with a 5.2 point lead over Romney. However, despite holding the lead now, he was barely in second place three weeks ago.  Between the three main candidates: Santorum, Romney, and Gingrich, it is still anyone’s race at this point. Though Ron Paul is still campaigning, it has become pretty clear at this point that he doesn’t pose any real threat to the three other candidates. He may do well in a few states, and even win one or two, but he differs too much from the Republican ideals to truly be a powerful force in the primary elections.

Now, onto the Michigan primary. It would be a natural assumption, given that Romney was born in Michigan, that he would have some sort of advantage in that state. That is most definitely not the case. In fact, Mitt Romney is disliked to a pretty big extent there. I should explain the background of why Michigan voters dislike Romney so much, and why he probably won’t do so well. In 2008, Chrysler and GM, both major auto companies, declared bankruptcy. Then president Bush passed an initial bailout, giving them money to keep from going under and dissolving an enormous number of jobs. After President Obama was elected, he passed a second bailout, loaning even more money to these companies. That money saved the two largest companies in the American auto industry, and in doing so, saved all jobs attendant to the auto industry. Now, both companies are doing well, and reporting profits for the first time in a number of years. Detroit is the largest city in Michigan, and bases much of its economy around the auto industry. What does any of this have to do with Mitt Romney? Well, back when the bailout was first passed, Romney stated that he disapproved of the action. He went so far as to write an op-ed article titled “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt”. As you can imagine, this did not endear him to Michigan residents. However, Romney is not the only one who opposed the bailouts. Santorum also made clear that he did not support the actions. With the top two candidates so disliked, who knows what will happen. Maybe Gingrich will surge and make a play for Michigan. Whatever happens, we will have a clearer view of the race after Super Tuesday on March 6^th.