Santorum out, Romney in line for GOP nomination

A recent poll revealed what moderate Republicans have been hoping for – that Mitt Romney will be the Republican candidate for the president of the United States.

The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press poll, conducted after presidential Republican candidate Rick Santorum announced the suspension of his campaign, shows that 74 percent of Republicans say Romney will definitely seal the nomination, while 21 percent believe there is a possibility of someone else snagging it.

Despite the fact that many political analysts are already trying to predict who Romney’s running mate will be, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul try to remind and convince Americans that they are still running.

“They are wasting a lot of money and allowing more of a chance to have their image tampered with,” said sophomore Brianna Christiano, a political science student. “America is learning a lot about these candidates that can hinder further elections. Plus, in my eyes, it is clear who will be the Republican candidate.”

Depleting campaign funds was Santorum’s main reason for dropping out. From parties to private jet rides, the expenses for running a presidential campaign are astronomically high. Former presidential candidates such as Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and John McCain are still paying off their hundreds of thousands worth of debt.

“Financially and logically it was a good decision for Santorum to drop out of the presidential race,” said Christiano. “However, I do not think it was a good idea for him to drop out. In my opinion it gives the message that he kind of gave up. I believe you owe it to all those who have donated and supported you to fight until the end.”

Despite his attempts to question Romney’s conservativeness and characterize him as too similar to President Obama, Santorum could not win enough delegates in the primaries to win.

The growing support of Romney over Santorum and the other candidates proves that it is better to have a more moderate GOP nominee. The American people tend to stray away from candidates who are either too left or too right on the political spectrum. In fact, a Gallup poll shows that in 2011, 40 percent of voters identified themselves as political independents – a record-high.

“The gridlock that seems to be constantly occurring between Republicans and Democrats angers people,” said sophomore Douglas Henry III, a media and cinema studies major. “They no longer want to associate themselves with either side.”

On the other hand, being too center can potentially cause a loss in crucial votes as well.

“Conservatives don’t trust Romney,” said James Wolfinger, professor of history and education at DePaul. “The problem – if he becomes the nominee – is not that these voters are going to vote for Obama. They won’t vote at all. This can cause Romney to have a very difficult time with the election.”

Conservatives are not Romney’s biggest concern now that the public has deemed him as the candidate to go up against Obama in the next six months.

“The question is,” said Wolfinger, “what does Romney do to broaden his appeal to women and Latinos?”

Romney is lacking support from both of these groups; therefore, whether he is able to change their views has the power to make or break his campaign.

“I don’t think many women support Romney because he is not a good representation of women’s values,” said Henry. “Republicans tend to be unsupportive of legislation that is important to them.”

This does not imply that the road ahead will not be tough for Obama as well. With four years of experience under his belt as the nation’s leader, people are more likely going to judge him on his past rather than what he promises for the future.

“The biggest challenge Obama will face,” said Christiano, “is people not thinking he has accomplished all he said he would.”

Without a doubt, the most criticism will be about the economy. Because this directly impacts Americans and their livelihood, it is an important issue. How effectively Obama reacted to the recession over the last four years is crucial.

“People will either say it’s his economy and he’s to blame,” said Wolfinger, “or that he did the best he can with how bad it was.”